Sky's Arrows
by Mechalich
Summary: Following the abduction of Yugito, Hidden Cloud unleashes a terrible response against the Akatsuki. Rated for Violence
1. Prologue

Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto and make no claims on its copyright, original characters are mine.

**Prologue – Red Devil Spoils**

**Marsh Country – 134 kilometers from Lightning Country Border**

**Active War Zone**

**9 Years Prior to Initial Manga Date**

Kato Naotaka pulled his sword out of the leaf ninja's back with a quick jerk, and the slightest sigh of regret. It was hard to take joy at this moment, even though by all indications he was on his way to a great victory.

A triple blast of flame sounded in the distance, and Naotaka suppressed a slight smile. It was working. The trap had been successful in at least its first stage.

He jumped from his current rooftop to the next, keeping moving constantly, searching out additional targets. The town was full of them now; a huge portion of the Leaf army had been drawn in, all as he had anticipated. A fake opening, one just enough to seem a true oversight and not a trap, baited with the very biggest prize available, and the entire northern division of the Leaf advance had been drawn in.

Naotaka caught sight of a leaf ninja in the street below him, a young boy surely not more than fourteen. He flipped a shuriken across the road, striking a gutter there with a loud clang.

Predictably the boy turned, so he was not looking when Naotaka slammed a roofing tile into the back of his head. One moment stunned was all it took, and the jounin plunged his straight sword in and out, leaving yet another body to fall to the ground.

The leaf had been confident, no surprise there, the northern division had outnumbered everything he had by at least three to one, and they had a number of the red and white eyed devils, the Hyuuga and Uchiha with them. They must have been confident they could defeat any trap.

Certainly they could, had Naotaka used a trap involving ninjutsu, but he hadn't. Fireworks served more than well enough to blind bloodline eyes, and when he dropped the buildings on the whole eastern side of the town to create an isolating maze of rubble the advantage had flipped to him.

Now the town was flooded with small groups and individuals of the Cloud, men and women skilled in the arts of death, and further armed with knowledge of the massively complex array of traps scattered throughout the town, conventional, genjutsu, and more. All this because the bait, Kazumasu Togawa, the best ninja Cloud still had in the field, had been too much for the Leaf commanders to resist.

Naotaka came to a main road. Looking down he saw a quartet of ninja approaching the intersection from the west side, all in the characteristic animal masks of the Leaf ANBU. Dangerous, he decided, a group of ANBU that had managed to stay together must be skilled, and such a group represented a threat that must be neutralized, they could jeopardize his whole plan.

With long practiced and skilled technique the jounin analyzed the situation, taking in all the many layers of information he knew about every location in this town and integrating them together. The puzzle pieces shifted in his mind until he had viable strategy only moments later. A gas main ran under the street those ANBU would cross. If he blew it at the right moment he could destroy the whole group. The tricky part was he needed to overwhelm the ANBU's caution. It required being two places at once. Well, that was no real difficulty for a ninja. "Rai bushin no jutsu," Naotaka whispered, and then sent his massively charged double on its mission.

For him, it was time to be bait.

Naotaka jumped down into the street in front of the advancing ANBU, and in a bit of acting mimed that he had been planning to simply jump to the other side, but was now forced to face his enemies.

The ANBU in the center made single gesture of his hand, and the other three fanned out behind him, moving to encircle wide. It was quick, simple, and effective, and Naotaka was impressed, moreso because the ANBU's leader was nothing more than a lanky black haired youth, perhaps as young as twelve years old. Who was this child?

With blistering speed the youth charged, hurling a trio of shuriken as he came on. Naotaka whipped free his sword and blocked, though with more difficulty than he had anticipated, falling back before the strikes, then darting forward again. He knew he would have to halt the leader of the ANBU to enable his ploy of flight to succeed; otherwise the snare would overtake him before he reached the gas main.

The youth knocked his mask down from his face as he streaked in toward the cloud jounin, and Naotaka found himself staring into black and red eyes, baleful and furious. The sharingan, an Uchiha!

This was not anticipated, and not a good thing, but it was not insurmountable, Naotaka determined in a snap-assessment. He came on with his blade high.

Uchiha youth met Cloud jounin with a clash of steel on steel as sword met kunai. Naotaka jumped back from the contact, letting the kunai of his foe's companions pass through the space where he had stood. The Uchiha anticipated of course, ready the motions of his enemy using the sharingan, but Naotaka held his defense strong.

The jounin had one advantage against this foe in close combat, and he was quick to seize it. His opponent was a boy, and armed only with kunai, he had to lunge in to reach his taller, sword-wielding enemy.

The left foot came forward, leading the attack, and Naotaka did a quick two step. His own right foot snapped out, landing on his enemy's toes with a crunch. He let his sword fall from his right hand to drop into his left, blocking the incoming kunai low, with just enough strength to prevent it from penetrating his flak-jacket. This left him exposed to a follow-through, but his foe would not get the chance.

Naotaka's arm lashed out, grabbing the ANBU armor of the boy, and then he spun his whole body off his left foot, spinning around and with chakra-enhanced strength throwing the young Uchiha back down the street.

His enemy essentially removed from the encounter, the plan was complete, and it was time to run.

A flurry of kunai and shuriken pursued the jounin from the other ANBU, and though he wove and shifted away from most he took a light gash on the right thigh in the process, but it did not matter, one second ahead of his foes he crossed the line to the gas main.

All the mains in the village had been primed for explosive use; his bushin had only needed to turn a specially concealed crank to fill the air with methane. Naotaka held his breath as he passed through the invisible cloud, even as he bushin rushed out into it.

The ANBU were sensitive, the moment they smelled gas there was an outcry. "It's a trap!" one yelled, "Get clear!"

It was too late.

The ANBU would had time to run had he been forced to throw an explosion note to detonate his little device, but it was far quicker to make a single handseal.

The Rai bushin burst apart in a shower of crackling electrical energy.

The blast of power hurled Naotaka a long ways down the street, accompanied by scorched pieces of the unfortunate ANBU.

Rolling to his feet the Cloud jounin turned back to observe the ANBU's child leader had done likewise. The baleful stare of the sharingan reached out across the distance toward him.

"Bastard!" the boy hissed. "I'll rip you apart!"

"Will you?" Naotaka forced himself to act casually; serenely confident, even though he was anything but certain he could defeat this wrathful talent in one-on-one combat. "You're awfully careless with your life then."

Distant explosions rumbled through the square, a reminder of the ongoing fight elsewhere. There was a tense pause.

"You won't leave this town alive, I swear," the Uchiha boy hissed, but he jumped up to a rooftop and headed north.

Naotaka forbade himself to sigh in relief. Leaving that child loose was almost certain to cost lives, lives he was responsible to maintain.

The jounin jumped up to a rooftop, and surveyed the devastation. The town was crumbling around him, as trap after trap was used in the brutal conflict. He decided it was time to get additional information. He checked his radio headset first, only to be rewarded with a blast of static. That was good, the jamming was still in place, and the primary plan could go forward.

Though destroying radio communications would normally be a greater disadvantage to the outnumbered force in a battle, Naotaka had planned this out well, and all his kill-squads had pre-planned routes and contingencies to use. Additionally he had seeded a number of secure landlines in the town, ones only useable with the proper codes. It was to one of these hidden phones he traveled now.

"Saito, status," Naotaka demanded immediately upon dialing the proper code.

"I've got you Naotaka," the voice of another jounin responded, Ukita Saito, a thirty-year ninja and one of Naotaka's most trusted ninja. "The plan is proceeding, we took some casualties in the main holding force, but not bad, and so far everything has developed well in the Maze Game," he used the code word for Naotaka's plan. "Whatever our losses, they've been way less than the Leaf's."

"Then it's time to quit while we're ahead," Naotaka ordered. "Send out the signal for withdrawal, primary plan, and set True Red-Devil in motion," he suppressed a smile at that name, a mockery of the common name the Cloud ninja had long used for the feared Uchiha.

"Timeframe?" Saito queried.

"Twenty-five minutes," Naotaka answered, "I don't want to cut it close. We need to clear everyone out, we can't afford anymore losses."

"Understood," Saito replied. "Twenty-five minutes starting on my mark." A brief pause. "Mark!"

A brilliant purple rose appeared above the town, fireworks proving their worth once more.

Twenty-five minutes to get out off town, Naotaka knew. He had his route, as did all the ninja, there should be more than enough time, but he got moving all the same, it would be important to have time to spare in case he ran into any obstacles.

Proceeding northeast against the internal clock in his mind, Naotaka ran hard, his footsteps pounding on the dirt road. He was forsaking stealth, but it hardly mattered now, an opponent would have to be positioned perfectly to hit him in time to catch him now.

The cry stopped him short.

It came from his right, only to be quickly stifled, but there was no mistaking the frightened cry of a young child. This was an oddity, something out of place, and Naotaka didn't like it. He stopped, and drew his sword, cautious.

It had come from his right, a child's cry, and now his vision traced down the source as a large building, one whose former service had clearly been a brothel. It had been damaged and scarred by the fighting, all the windows were shattered, and much of the wood was bent and warped, but it still stood. Then, even in the pale light of this clouded day, Naotaka saw a flicker of shadowy movement against the wall through a broken window.

The arrow that followed was not what he had anticipated.

It streaked toward him with brilliant accuracy, poised to take him in the chest, and if his sword had not been drawn it would have been terribly difficult to dodge. Instead, the sharp blade slashed the arrow aside, splitting it apart and carrying it down.

Another arrow was already following the first, and Naotaka had barely any time to observe a thin, willowy figure, white and ghostly, flip through a shattered window to launch a third arrow toward him.

He dashed right, nimbly slashing the second arrow aside with his sword, and rolling away from the third, but more followed, coming at him in a stream of brutally accurate and swift strikes. He drew a kunai in his left hand and between arrows, jumped backwards and launched it at his foe, following it with a second and a third.

His foe was a young girl, Naotaka saw in a moment's pause between arrows, and at the oncoming kunai she was unperturbed, but only sent another arrow through the air.

It struck the first kunai, ricocheted to strike the second, and then again to hit the third, and returned to a flightpath aimed at his heart.

The jounin's jaw dropped. Just who was he facing? With a quick move he managed to deflect this arrow, and then jumped up above, sheathing his sword as he landed on a rooftop.

A trio of arrows, seemingly launched at once, streaked toward him.

"Raiton: Denkou Tate no Jutsu!" A brilliant wall of coruscating energy materialized before the jounin, hurling the arrows back. He followed this move by darting forward quickly; throwing three shuriken, each from widely separated angles, there would be no way to deflect them all with arrows.

The girl waited until the shuriken approached, and then, without seeming to exert any effort, took an arrow from her quiver in her left hand, and simply passed the shaft through the center hole of each shuriken. She flipped the arrow around and launched it then, the trio of shuriken whistling off the back in wrathful arcs, yet somehow capable of hitting their target.

No longer surprised by this unusual opponent, Naotaka was ready, and he used his own shuriken to knock these projectiles out of the air, darting forward as he did so.

The girl jumped aside, and two arrows streaked toward the jounin, but his body was held low in running posture, and he knocked them aside with little trouble. Now only a few steps remained.

The girl was not without tricks of her own remaining, she jumped back as the ninja came on, flipping her bow forward as she did so, forcing Naotaka to raise his sword to block.

It was nothing more than a feint, for a flexible leg kicked out, and suddenly the bow was a weapon again, held by foot and left arm, needing only an arrow. The girl reached back, knowing she had caught her opponent at last.

Her hands closed on nothing.

Naotaka's left hand reached out, grabbed the dirty white smock the girl wore, and pulled her upright, her throat meeting his sword. "I kept count," he whispered cuttingly into her ear.

A child's cry split the air again.

Naotaka saw his captive's head turn involuntarily toward the shattered windows, where the sound had come from. His own eyes followed.

Huddled against the wall was a group of children, all save one a girl, young, hungry, and dirty to the last. "What is this?" Naotaka hissed. "This town was completely evacuated!" he had demanded it, and made sure of compliance, or so he thought.

"They said we would slow them down, and so they locked us in the cellar instead," the girl before him answered.

These girls and the young boy were servants of the brothel Naotaka realized, the property of the house, and the owners had chosen to leave them to die instead of take them along in a frightful spit of cold-blooded mercantilism.

The jounin made a snap decision. "Get them to stand," he told the girl, releasing her.

"What?" she was clearly shocked beyond simple confusion.

"Get them up," he ordered again, his voice wielding absolute authority. "This town will burn to ash in minutes only, and everyone will die, we must get them out." He would not allow these children to die, not because he failed to insure his own orders were followed completely, he would not.

"But how can we…"

"Just get them to stand," he ordered.

The girl nodded, and opening the battered door began ushering the other ten children out into the open.

Now Naotaka was faced with a choice. He had barely twelve minutes remaining, and these young ones, ranging from perhaps six to eleven, would never make it by themselves, even the girl he had just fought could not be more than thirteen. He would have to help them, but to do so would be dangerous. Nevertheless, he was responsible, he was in command, and so he made the choice without hesitating. "Kage bushin no jutsu."

Ten copies of the jounin materialized about him, reducing his chakra critically, he would not be performing any more jutsus today. That was a grave risk, but it need not matter if everything went as planned. "Everyone, you're going to ride piggyback," he told the children, as his copies helped them up.

It was a matter of moments to get all ten youngsters in place, and here Naotaka turned to the girl in the tattered white dress. "I will guide you out of the village, but it will be dangerous. You must trust me, now, do you?"

"Yes my lord," she answered without hesitation, and Naotaka, with the trained insight of a commander, knew it was true.

"Then take these," he handed her his weapon pouch, with its remaining shuriken and kunai. "You are out of arrows, but I suspect you can throw can't you?"

She nodded.

"Stay close then," he ordered, and wrapped his left arm about her. "Let's go!"

They dashed onto the rooftops, a strange convoy of children and copies, surging toward the eastern edge of the town as the clock counted down in the jounin's head. Still, they could make it, and with time to spare. It was going to work.

Then a kunai came out from the north.

There was little time to react, the projectile had been launched secretly and from cover, and aimed not at Naotaka, but the girl he was carrying along.

He spun her loose then, throwing the girl roughly to the ground, and reached out to grab the weapon with his right hand.

It cut a bloody gash along his palm, but he stopped it, and brought his sword up in his right hand. He had only time to see the red eyes and black hair vault up to the rooftop.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" A massive blast of flame roared toward Naotaka. He rolled away and took cover close to the ground, holding his mouth and nose shut, but he could feel the skin on his back and face redden and burn from the intense heat. The Uchiha brat had returned.

The cloud jounin did not stay down, that would have been death. He ignored the pain and ran along the roof, trying to pinpoint his opponent and likewise by time for his clones to escape.

"I told you wouldn't leave alive old man," the youth hissed, advancing with a kunai in each hand.

Naotaka took his sword in hand and counter-charged.

The youth was a fast learner, and when the blades met he jabbed out with the second kunai to neutralize the reach advantage, using the vision of the sharingan to deftly avoid the jounin's attempt to grasp the weapon and pin the young man in place. Naotaka was forced to jump back and take a serious gash across his left arm from the sequence.

Breath was hard to come by as the burns coursed their painful agony through the cloud ninja's body. He ignored the pain with practiced skill, but with his limited chakra he could not endure for long. Still, the charge had accomplished its primary objective, his clones had escaped.

Had he been alone, Naotaka would have turned and run himself, but he saw the white-dressed girl kneeling on the rooftop behind the Uchiha and knew he could not. This battle was not inherently hopeless, he must try and win and save his subordinate.

"Is that all you have old man?" the Uchiha taunted, advancing slowly, presumably planning another jutsu. "Just a few tricks?"

_The boy is talented, but cocky, like most Uchiha_, Naotaka reasoned. He could see a possible method.

Slowly the Cloud jounin brought his left hand to his chest, miming a seal, and then spun away from the Uchiha, presenting his back to the boy.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" the Uchiha invoked another powerful fire jutsu.

Naotaka ripped his hand down the zipper of his flak jacket as he turned, pulling it free and then hurling it back toward the Uchiha's fire blast as he completed the spin.

The blast of fire devoured the flak jacket, and in doing so, triggered the explosion note hidden within, Naotaka's insurance against capture.

Blast canceled blast, and an opening, superheated though it was, appeared.

The jounin's completed spin launched his sword through it.

His body would follow.

The young Uchiha blocked the sword, but Naotaka came on like a missile behind as the fire blast dissipated, body-tackling his enemy and driving him to the ground.

They fell to the rooftop with a thud, struggling with hideous chaos. The sharingan was useless this close in, something Naotaka had counted on, and his superior size and strength worked in his favor. Unfortunately the Uchiha boy was no fool, and he retained his kunai, no now it was a struggle to inflict damage quickly before the boy could create space and stab.

Naotaka smashed his face against the Uchiha's, and drove his knees into the stomach, being rewarded with a grunt, but the boy was fast and slick as a snake, and he managed to rake one foot across the jounin's burnt back.

Involuntary reflex drew the older ninja back off his foe, and the youth kicked out with the other foot, driving Naotaka upright and backwards even as he vaulted upwards to stab.

Then he spun with a look of terrific surprise.

Kunai flashed in, striking each of his kunai, one at eye level, the other at the bottom edge of the armor. These two were blocked, but the timing had been offset just slightly, and the third that followed behind split the difference between them. The Uchiha could see the path, could predict it with his sharingan, but he could do nothing but take the strike in his shoulder.

There was a lurch of pain, and his return spin was too slow, Naotaka's fist smashed him in the side of the head and carried him off the rooftop to slam into the ground.

The girl was already running to meet the jounin. "Run?" she asked simply.

"Right," he grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

"Damn you!" the Uchiha shouted from below them, but he would not be able to pursue in time.

Every part of Naotaka's body hurt as he pushed himself to go fast enough to make the walls, to escape the destruction only moments away now, but even through the pain he could only marvel at the girl beside him. To make the attack she did she would have had to anticipate the movements of both ninja in their clutched position, and know exactly how her enemy could respond, and even then she had timed the attacks perfectly, so that even the vaunted sharingan had been bypassed.

They landed in the woods beyond the town walls with thirty seconds to go. "Take cover," Naotaka told the girl. "And don't look back."

"Why?" she whispered.

"You'll know," he answered between gasping breaths.

Exactly twenty-five minutes from his mark Ukita Saito cut a single line of wire with an extension of his chakra, and the restraining circle that had held back the True Red Devil was gone.

Energy flashed out from batteries, racing down wires and lines of chakra throughout the town, running through a hidden network of buried explosion notes and stores of fuel, all precisely timed to go off at once.

A wall of fire materialized on the walls of the town, roaring and raging, red anger fifty feet in height. A cacophony of explosions burst within, and all the world seemed to roar and crackle and shake for long moments.

When the initial burst had subsided, Naotaka grabbed the girl. "Let's move," he told her and then started walking toward the rendezvous point he knew his clones would had gone toward. The white-dressed girl, despite the destruction of the town behind her, made no complaints.

"Where did you learn to shoot?" the jounin asked her over the roar of the ongoing conflagration.

"I was taught by a ninja," the girl explained. "He came to the house often," she referred to the brothel by a simple name that way. "He thought I looked like his dead son, and it amused him to treat me that way, teaching me."

"I see," Naotaka managed. It was reasonable, an older ninja who had been a jounin could be quite rich, and many ninja became eccentric as they got old, as the duties wore them down. He said nothing more until they reached the others.

The girls and one boy stood quietly in a line before his shadow clones, dirty and with tears on their cheeks, but clear eyed and attentive.

Naotaka dismissed his clones and looked at them, this range of children, all now orphaned and without caretakers. "All of you would have died today if I had not saved you," he began frankly, and gestured toward the red sky behind them for emphasis. "As I saved you, and no one else can claim you, your lives are now mine; they belong to jounin Kato Naotaka of Hidden Cloud. Do you understand?"

Slowly each child nodded, brought up in a brothel, they understood obedience.

"Good," he told them. "Your old lives have ended, from today forward you serve Hidden Cloud. I have not yet decided how, but I will make use of you. For now, follow me, I will take you to a safe place." He created another bushin then, a simple basic clone, and even that was a struggle with his depleted chakra. This copy he had lead the children on, taking the point position so he could guard the rear, for whatever that was worth in his state.

The white-dressed girl fell back beside him. "What will you do with us?" She asked him carefully, and curiosity reached out from her startlingly sharp eyes.

"You saw war today,' Naotaka told her. "It is terrible yes?"

She nodded.

"Good, you know that," he nodded as well. "War is terrible, but it is part of our world, and it will not go away, but it can perhaps be changed. I wish to change the way we fight, so that we can win wars and prevent new ones, so no one dares to threaten Hidden Cloud. You, and your siblings," he gestured to the others, using that term to bind them together even though they were clearly not related by blood. "Shall be a part of this. I have many ideas, and you yourself have given me a good one, for you are very talented."

She nodded, but wisely said nothing.

Something struck Naotaka then, and he asked a spontaneous question. "What is your name girl?"

"Yaeko," she replied softly.

"Too simple, and not suited for you," Naotaka told her, for it did not suit her, and he somehow knew what she should be called, the name of the ninja she would become. "That was the name of your old life, and that life is ended. From today on you are Yadome."

"Yadome," she whispered. "Yes, I am Yadome."

Chapter Notes:

Kato Naotaka is named after two generals of the Sengoku period, Kato Kiyomasa (one of the leaders of the Korean invasion under Hideyoshi) and Ii Naotaka (general under Ieyasu and son of Ii Naomasa, the family was famous for dressing its warriors in all red armor).

Denkou Tate no Jutsu – this means 'lightning shield.'

For those who can't guess, the Uchiha Naotaka is fighting is the young Uchiha Itachi.

Yadome means 'arrow cutter' and is the art of knocking or catching projectiles in midair, something she is demonstrably good at.


	2. Incident 1 Unacceptable Appropriation

**Incident One – Unacceptable Appropriation**

**Lightning Country – Hidden Cloud Village**

**Ninja Governed Territory**

**Concurrent with Manga Chapter 314**

It is never, ever, a good thing when someone bursts into a Kage's office. Even a person bearing the most exciting, most gloriously positive news in the world would at best enter in a respectful hurry. The door bursting in was always indicative of some terrible crisis, and any Kage who has served for a modicum of time learns to dread their door opening in such a way.

For the Seventh Raikage his door opening suddenly was also an occasion to draw the sword he wore perpetually over his robes of office, an old habit from the front lines he'd never been able, or really desired to, rid himself. So the startled chunin who bore the bad news was forced to deliver it facing the business end of his commander's ninja sword after discovering just how fast the Raikage could surmount his desk.

"What have I told you people about knocking?" the Raikage demanded.

"Um…that in a true emergency all rules of protocol may be suspended?" the chunin managed desperately.

"Correct," the Raikage put his sword away and walked back behind his desk, sorting the stirred papers somewhat. "And your emergency is?" the veteran ninja managed to hold back his dread, though he knew this couldn't be good.

"Yes sir," the chunin replied. "Sir, well, the report just came in from Chosuke, a genin on espionage work in the southwest of the country. Apparently he's found the bodies of three members of Nii Yugito's team, and Yugito herself is missing!" the chunin could not deliver the news without letting the sensational reality of it take over his voice.

"God dammit…" the Raikage growled, chewing the news over slowly. "Those were good men with her, Nagai, Terazawa, and Itakura, all good ninja, three of our best chunin. Damn," his hand was fast on his swordhilt. "Yugito is missing then, not dead?"

"That's the report," the chunin was trying to make himself very small.

"Do we have any idea who's responsible?" the Raikage had a good guess, but he wanted confirmation.

"Chosuke investigated, and there were sightings of two strange men in cloaks with a red cloud design, and they seemed very dangerous, all over the area."

The Raikage nodded. "Very well, please inform my secretary of the deaths and arrange for funerals with the full death in combat honors to be held when the bodies are returned, and have Chosuke issued a commendation for Service with Distinction," he turned to the chunin. "That's all, you are dismissed."

The Raikage watched the chunin leave and then sat at his desk, his whole body suddenly feeling unbearably heavy. "Dammit, dammit, dammit," he muttered to himself. He'd anticipated this, expected it for months, years even, but he hadn't been able to stop it. "God damn politics," he muttered again. He couldn't get the support for preemptive action, never had been able to. All the 'it's not our problem,' or 'let's take advantage of this' cries, and other such excuses. Yugito herself hadn't helped. The woman was insubordinate, reckless, and impossible to control. He wouldn't shed many tears for her, but he would for the ninja lost with her, they had been good men, if political opposition.

The Raikage stood and drew his sword. He stared at the cold steel blade, the simple straight weapon he'd carried for so many years. His enemies thought they could act with impunity it seemed, thought his sword was no threat to them. The little fractured Cloud village with its weak Kage and brush wars with Mist couldn't do anything about the Akatsuki. That was the message this act had sent. "Wrong," he said the word with finality. "I ignored you while I had to, but now I have an excuse, and the punishment for theft of military supplies is death. You madmen latch on to old and fickle powers, but you will find that I care little for such things. It is time to change the way things are done."

He turned back to his desk and hit a small button, activating the speakerphone to his secretary, a retired ninja whose personal loyalty and discretion the Raikage could stake his life on freely. "Get Kazumasu Togawa, Ukita Saito, and Genjiro to my office immediately!" he commanded.

"Yes sir," the old secretary was long past being surprised by anything, and he would carry out his duties efficiently.

The Raikage sat back down to wait, ostensibly resuming the paperwork that occupied much of his time, but though his hands passed over the paper and forms were filled out his mind was operating on another level entirely. The Seventh Raikage was widely considered the weakest of the Kages, his personal talents less even than the demon boy Gaara the Sand had foolish appointed to rule their village, but what matter his personal abilities. So what if he was not his village's strongest ninja, strength did not win battles, strategy did, Kato Naotaka, the compromise candidate to lead the Cloud after the disastrous failure of the Hyuuga peace ploy, was the best ninja strategist in a century. The brush wars with the Mist, little island flare ups with minimal options, gave him little chance to display his true ability, but he was determined now that not only would he destroy the Akatsuki, he would do so in a way that would prove the superior methods he had developed to all the foolish doubters who had so long held his village back.

His plans were already beginning to take shape.

As expected Kazumasu Togawa arrived first. He opened the door without knocking, and strode into the office with a great deal of authority, almost swagger. He was a tall, powerful, and intimidating man, who made a practice of making himself more intimidating. He wore a combination helmet and mask that had the strange property of making his eyes appear as blue balls of cracking lightning, and his voice was modified into a low hissing growl. Terror and killing were things he knew, things he was very good at, and he made sure everyone else knew it as well.

The Raikage could not like Togawa, how could he, the man before him in the dark habergeon with his trademark double-edged curved pudao sword was the strongest ninja in the village, at least not counting the demon inside Yugito, and he knew it. It was always hard to outrank someone who could thrash you apart in a fight. Still, Togawa was a loyal ninja of the village. He was not from a clan, and though he made no bones about backing a certain faction from time to time, he would obey his Kage's orders without question or complaint and only a small amount of resentment over having been passed over for the position himself. As a result the Raikage had to rely on Togawa, even if he could never trust him completely.

"What's the crisis?" Togawa was a perceptive man, anyone who'd lasted as long as he had would be.

"Wait," the Raikage explained. "I'll explain it all at once."

Togawa was assuredly not happy, but he said nothing and simply stood and waited, he understood the necessity.

Ukita Saito was next, he was an older man than Togawa or the Raikage, and it showed on his face. He was closing in on sixty these days, and was officially retired, though he remained spry and powerful. Upon entry he nodded to the Raikage, the younger man, almost twenty years his junior had served both under and over Saito through the years, and the two were friends above and beyond being ninja. Saito had once been a major clan operator, but the war with the Leaf had changed that, and he was the Raikage's man completely now, more than perhaps any other holding the rank of jounin. Naotaka wished he could spare his old friend further burdens, but now he knew he would have to demand even more.

Saito simply nodded to the Raikage upon entering, straightened his day clothes, and stood leaning against the wall. He and Togawa were not friends, but the two had nothing between them save a healthy respect for the other's accomplishments.

They would spend several long minutes waiting in silence before the third one arrived.

If Saito's age showed on his face, age seemed to drip from this man's whole body. Genjiro had been a monk for almost seventy-five years now, having been ordained at the age of six. He was ancient, wise, and irritable. Being forced to leave his comfortable lodgings to come see the Raikage, even though he was assuredly carried almost the entire way, put him in an obvious bad mood.

Genjiro and the Raikage did not get along. The old monk was a traditionalist, he always had been and he would go to his death praising the virtues of past days, while the Raikage was an innovator. Moreover, it had been one of Naotaka's first acts upon assuming his office to haul the old man out of his contented and somewhat senile retirement and put him to work. A lifetime of religious knowledge and practice in the difficult art of fuuinjutsu was not something the younger leader would let go to waste. So the old man grumbled, and howled, and generally cursed the man half his age that fate had put over him, but would never dream of disobedience.

"All right, all right I've hauled my bony carcass through you door young man," Genjiro unhurriedly pulled up a chair and seated himself in it without asking for permission, the prerogatives of old age. "So what's your big emergency?"

"Nii Yugito has been abducted by the Akatsuki," the Raikage laid it out openly.

"Damn!" Togawa barked, and his radiant eyes flared.

Saito was quiet, but Genjiro was free to speak his mind. "Knew it, knew it!" old voice was ragged but still capable of power. "Tried to warn everyone, they'd come for the jin, they would, but nobody listened, nobody, least of all that fool of a young lady. No, wouldn't listen to her elders, just went gallivanting along in the countryside!"

The Raikage gestured loosely for quiet. "I quite agree," he replied. "I tried to restrain her myself, but everyone thought it was too important to maintain her place in operations, and so now three good ninja are dead and we've lost our jinchuuriki to a group of madmen that apparently wants to consume their souls or some such foolishness if the reports from our spies in Suna are at all credible."

"Who cares what they plan," Togawa growled. "Missing-nins killed three of our ninja and stole a fourth. They need to be gutted and strung up!"

"Yes," the Raikage said softly but with terrible purpose. "Yes they do, and I will see that it is done, and you three will help me."

"So what's the plan?" Togawa asked. "I can assemble a team and go after the thieves. The Akatsuki move in pairs they say."

"That would be the obvious move," Saito said, his first real contribution to the discussion. "And surely they will be ready for it."

"It would be, and they will," Naotaka smiled. "Which is why we will do exactly that, and yet not at all."

"What are you plotting?" Togawa's voice was hungry. He knew well the meaning behind the strategist's smile.

"You will assemble a team of four jounin, and I will make a public announcement at the funeral that you are being sent top exact our justice and all Cloud ninja should aid this endeavor, so that everyone knows you are going after the Akatsuki," the Raikage explained. "However, your mission will not be to hunt them down. Instead, you will isolate their objective. Locate the remaining Bijuu or Jinchuuriki, capture one if you can, or kill one if that seems opportune, regardless, I want to throw them off and hinder their plans. In that way we can gather intelligence and force them into the open."

"Fine with me," Togawa answered. "It's a reasonable method, but if you're not sending me to kill them who can you send? There's not a lot of people I'd trust with the job."

The Raikage turned to Saito, and the old jounin's blood went cold. "You can't mean…" he whispered.

"It is time they learned that the old ways will fail," Naotaka said serenely. "The Shinobi-Ite shall be used at last."

"The what?" Togawa barked, and he saw the faces of Saito and Genjiro. "What the hell do you old men know that I don't?" He turned back to the Raikage, lightning eyes flared and burning. "I'm supposed to have the highest security clearance there is in this village!"

"You do," the Raikage was unflustered. "And that's why I have chosen to inform you now; you will be only the fourth person to learn of this project, the knowledge belongs only to the people in this room, and for very good reason. I trust you will maintain your discretion on this matter?"

"I will," Togawa was serious and firm. "But what is this secret project of yours that's so secret it's more hidden than all your other secret projects and innovations?" Togawa wondered, for it was well known that their Raikage had almost an obsession with experimentation and the development of new techniques, new methodology, new everything.

"I will show you," the Raikage replied. "But first, master Genjiro, I have a few questions for you."

"What do you want now young man?" the old monk rasped. "You know I don't like this whole project, and it's far too hard on my old eyes."

"Where do we stand on the equipment front?" he asked.

"Oh, only that," Genjiro muttered. "Never mind I've been destroying my life for seven years on this foolish project of yours, never mind my failing vision or the toll on my hands, no never mind all that. The first complete set is done of course, but the second is not finished and won't be for a year at least. Everyone has all the primary field equipment though, I got all that done, and I even trained one of my granddaughters at it. She'll be a first rate fuuin-master in time, so when death finally frees me of your ridiculous demands this lousy project can go on."

"How considerate of you," Naotaka replied, resisting the urge to smile. "Well, we will have to go with the field equipment then, that should be more than enough really, but do send your granddaughter by to see me in the next few days," he did smile here. "Now, there is just one more thing. I want you to find these thieves for me."

"And just how do you expect..." Genjiro began.

The Raikage cut him off. "You are a master of seals and all things mystical, and you have the gall to tell me you cannot track two extremely powerful madmen who have been in close contact with our jinchuuriki? I had not thought you so senile Genjiro."

"Fine, fine, fine!" the old monk moaned. "I can do it, you're right, but it will take time, and if you want me to find any of the others it would help to get something belonging to these two, and I'll need some special materials as well, the offerings and preparations must be perfect for this. Perfect!"

"I understand," the Raikage replied in all seriousness. "Submit a list to my secretary and he'll see you get absolutely everything you need. You must begin as soon as possible."

"Very well my lord," Genjiro replied formally. "May I go and get to work on that right away?"

Though right away surely meant after a long nap, the Raikage nodded his assent. "Yes, very good."

The old monk hobbled his way out of the office, grumbling all the while.

When he was gone Togawa turned to the Raikage. "If I become like that when I'm that old, have me strangled."

"I'll try to remember," Naotaka did his best to avoid laughing, Togawa's mask made it almost impossible to tell if he was joking, but the remark was amusing nonetheless. "Still, aggravating though he may be, Genjiro's knowledge is of benefit to us all."

"Very true," Saito said softly. "Now, I assume you want to see the unit?"

"Right," the Raikage stood. He depressed the button for his secretary again. "I'm going to be out of the office for the next few hours. Use the radio if there's anything immediately critical."

"Yes sir," came the level reply.

"Then let's get going," he turned to Saito. "After you old friend."

Chapter Notes:

Kazumasu Togawa is named partly for Takigawa Kazumasu, a Sengoku general in the service of Oda and Hideyoshi who was active in several battles in ninja-controlled territory.

Genjiro has no family name because he is a monk, and has taken his name in the service of Buddha.


	3. Incident 2 Official Activation

**Incident Two – Official Activation**

**Lightning Country – Undisclosed Encampment**

**Ninja Governed Territory**

**Concurrent with Manga Chapter 314**

As the forest thickened about them and the path became harder to follow, Togawa became a bit nervous. "Where are we going exactly?" he asked the Raikage. "This area is a forest reserve that is rarely used by anyone, so what's here?"

"You should know well enough that in the world of ninja forest reserves of little use are in fact training grounds of a great deal of use," Naotaka answered with a sly grin.

"Of course, but the two clan-operated facilities are on the other side of the mountain," Togawa responded. "I didn't think there was anything over here."

"That's why we sited here," Saito explained. "It's just close enough to existing locations that no one would look for it and just far enough to stay hidden. Besides," he added, "having ninja nearby has proven most useful for practice."

"Hmm…" Togawa mumbled and fell silent.

"It's just over the ridge," Saito explained. "We'll be noticed soon."

"Noticed?" Togawa's lightning eyes glinted hungrily. "Could they notice people like us?"

"Not now," the Raikage interrupted. "It's a reasonable experiment Kazumasu," he old the jounin. "But if you tried it without them knowing you're likely to get hurt."

"You're serious," the mask hid the surprise from the jounin's face, but could not keep it from his voice. "Maybe whatever you've got up here really can match those bastards."

The indication they were noticed came in the form of an arrow, landing at the foot of Saito in the lead, precisely where his foot would have descended had he taken another step.

Togawa dropped to a crouch and rolled to the right, his hardened reflexes taking over. "The hells!" he spat. "Where'd that come from, I can't see anyone!"

"Not bad!" Saito called out to the trees. "Which one of you just dropped an arrow on the Raikage and Cloud's best ninja?"

A slender shape, all in woodland camouflage complete to the point of including face paint, dropped from the trees. The only thing marking this one out as a person was the long bow carried clearly. "It's Shiori captain!" the voice of a young woman replied. "Is it really master Togawa?"

In an eyeblink the jounin was next to this young woman, a slender girl with dusky brown hair cropped to her neck and hanging loosely. His blade brushed up against that hair easily, a soft, casual motion carrying ease of death.

"Bushin no jutsu! But when…" Shiori mumbled in surprise.

"In a flash of light, in a blink, so many things can be accomplished," the dark modified voice answered. "I am indeed Kasumazu Togawa young lady, and I congratulate you on an excellent shot."

"So you are," Shiori could tell from the mask Togawa was who he claimed to be, but she simply stepped back with casual assurance. "But that wasn't a very good shot really, I was off the target by four centimeters, and I hit the wind badly, so it made sound about ten meters before it should have. Isn't that right captain?" She addressed Saito as he approached.

"That's about right," Saito replied, "though I must confess to not having a very good view from my end. You tend to try and push through the wind too hard Shiori, I've told you many times."

"Yes captain," the young lady nodded, "I will improve it."

Togawa looked at Saito and spoke in a thoughtful voice. "I think I begin to grasp what you are working on here," he said. "You were a master archer when you served, one of the very few. So you've been training ninja in the bow out here, the Shinobi-Ite."

"Yes," the Raikage answered as he walked up to join them. "But not just archers, we have taken the whole concept further, creating ninja whose skills operate in a way never previously conceived, treating everything differently." He turned to the young lady and smiled. "Hello Shiori, you look well."

"Yes Commander Kato!" she saluted smartly, bringing her left hand and the bow up to her right shoulder. "We have all been doing well! The Shinobi-Ite is yours to command!"

He smiled wholesomely at her response, feeling a genuine happiness at the open loyalty and fierce enthusiasm of this young lady. "How old are you now Shiori? I always seem to have trouble remembering your birthdays."

"Twenty Commander Kato! My birthday was last month."

That's right, he recalled, she had been eight at the time, it was hard to recognize that only twelve years had passed, it seemed much longer. "Very good Shiori, now, if you please, hurry down and summon everyone together, we have some important announcements to make today."

"Understood Commander Kato!" Shiori replied, and turned to hurry off down the ridge.

"Strange, I had not thought you so popular with the young ladies," Togawa muttered as Shiori ran off.

"The Shinobi-Ite regards the Raikage as their father," Saito explained.

"Really?" Togawa's eyes focused deep on his leader. "She had a bright smile and nice face, but that one could kill dozens and many a ninja too."

"That's the point," Naotaka grimaced. He had never liked turning them into what they became, and now he was about to set them truly loose for the first time. Still, it had to be done, and if eleven children with no future could save the country, then those children it must be.

"Why Commander Kato though?" Togawa asked. "That was your former title, shouldn't they call you Raikage?"

"Perhaps they should," he replied, "but because their existence has been hidden they feel they are not truly Cloud ninja, and so they follow me as the Commander who acquired their lives, not the Raikage who rules Cloud. Once the time comes to reveal them, then it will change." At least, he hoped so, it would be embarrassing to be addressed that way in the middle of the village, people would talk.

"I see."

If was a swift journey downhill, and the trees thinned out into a wide clearing then, becoming just patchy enough to allow a small encampment, but not a true break in the forest. The Raikage took it in once again, for the first time in months, knowing the site would be different, it always was.

All the various training apparatuses remained, the targets, harnesses, launchers, and all sorts of strange devices for practice, those rarely changed. The small lodge houses, the two for the girls and the smaller one shared by Saito and Eisai, those also had not changed, but other things were different. Tables had moved, and a tree had been strung with a clothesline easily twenty feet above the ground. Someone had dismantled the large firepit and turned the stones into some kind of sculpture, and a secondary fletcher's tent had been added next to the first.

When the trio of ninja leaders came into view the encampment stirred like a kicked anthill. Girls in odd piecemeal outfits and all carrying bows dashed about in a scramble, picking up loose items and garbage, and struggling to wipe off dirt, straighten their hair, or otherwise make themselves presentable. Their panicked preparations completed they formed a rough line in front of the sculpted remnants of their firepit. A young man, dressed with similarity to the girls and with fine feminine features, joined them on the right side.

There were ten of them in total, ranging from age nineteen to twenty-three, nine young women and Eisai, the only young man among the group. All stood at attention holding their bows, and then saluted smartly in unison.

"Where's Yadome?" Naotaka asked, knowing she was absent.

A shadowy figure jumped through the trees swiftly even as he spoke the words, darting toward the encampment and landing next to the rest. "I am here my lord," she said as she took off the complex goggles and face mask of her uniform to reveal the pale and sharp-eyed stare beneath. "My sincerest apologies, I was out far and had to hurry back."

"That's quite all right," Naotaka managed, shocked as always upon seeing her in person. Saito had transformed the other children into deadly creatures, but Yadome was something different, something further than the others. Pale-skinned and with those blisteringly razor eyes, she was nevertheless the girl in white she had once been, and yet so much more. At twenty-five she was the eldest of them all by two years, and stood apart from the rest, even more than Eisai, the only boy. In some ways Naotaka loved her, the daughter he had never had, the girl who understood what he had striven for all his life better than anyone else, and yet he feared her, this slender vision of chill death, untouchable in her alabaster armor of killing power. Soon the whole world will know, they will fear as well, he recognized.

The Raikage cleared his throat. "Well, now that you're all here, I have a few things to say. Today is an important day for you all, something you surely recognize from the presence of Master Togawa, who you have not met before."

Eleven pairs of eyes shifted and locked, targeting Togawa with a collage of deadly gazes. The lightning mask stared back, and for a long breath all was silent.

"Yes, well," the Raikage continued through the odd moment. "I have brought him here today because it is important for someone else to know, for today your status is to change."

The eyes moved to auger him now, piercing deep and searching for the truth. It was rather disconcerting, to be the target of all that focus. "Today the Shinobi-Ite ceases to be a training organization, and is approved as an active military unit!" his voice grew louder toward the end as he proclaimed this.

Ten voices broke into a cheer. "Yay! At last! We're finally official!"

Only Yadome was silent, and the others noticed this quickly, and fell silent as well, looking to their elder sister to provide them insight.

"Why now?" she asked.

The Raikage had anticipated this, they were all too smart, they had been schooled well, and their background had taught them to always listen carefully, none of them ever missed anything. "Because it has come to pass that I will need all of you," he answered. "A crime has been perpetuated against the Hidden Village of Cloud, and normal measures will not serve to secure justice, so it shall be yours to claim. Now is the time for you to be revealed, to prove yourselves and your way to the rest of the world, and to change it."

In unison all eleven nodded. They had waited for this for a long time, and had always known it would take some crisis to free them from the bonds of secrecy. "What must we do?" Yadome asked, speaking for the group.

"Nine people must die, at least nine," the Raikage amended. "There may be perhaps more, if they have additional minions, but nine for certain. They are a group of criminals, dangerous madmen all, who have turned their back on their villages and performed terrible deeds. They call themselves the Akatsuki."

"A strange name for a group of criminals," one of the women, Fushiyo, commented. "Why should any shadow warrior call themselves the dawn?"

It was an interesting insight, and the Raikage filed it away, wondering if there might indeed be some greater meaning to the name. It was another puzzle piece to ponder.

"What did they do?" that was Mikiko, with her blond hair in curled buns, and perhaps the smartest of the whole bunch. "They must have been around for a while without provoking us, so what happened?"

"They killed three of our ninja," the Raikage began, noting that this provoked little surprise, for all these knew death well, "and they stole something of great importance, our jinchuuriki, Nii Yugito."

"Damn, they are madmen," chimed Shizuka. "That's like stealing a ticking time bomb."

"So it would seem," the Raikage couldn't help but agree, jinchuuriki were powerful weapons, but they were too chaotic, they could not be controlled, and imperiled both sides in a conflict. "But it would appear they have some plan in this matter, as they are attempting to capture all the demon-holders and the demons. Such a thing is insane, but it must be stopped, or it will surely unleash hideous destruction."

"So how to we go about it?" Eisai, the slender young man, finally spoke up, and cut to the point as he usually did before the girls.

Naotaka had been making plans on the way, so he had quite the complete answer ready. "Fuuinmaster Genjiro is working to locate at least some of the Akatsuki, who are known to travel in pairs. Master Togawa is going to lead a team of his own to investigate and lure out others. You will continue to be based here, and Captain Saito will coordinate your efforts, but teams will be dispatched into the field. There will be three teams in all, three, three, and four. Team One: Shiori, Chiyuki, and Nanami, Nanami," he addressed the twenty-two year old with long braided black hair, "It's your command. Everyone got it?"

"Yes Commander!" the three replied in unison.

"Team Two: Mikiko, Fushiyo, and Arisa," he looked carefully at Arisa, taking in the dark eyed girl with her short hair dyed pale gray, at twenty-three she was second eldest among them. "You will accept command of this group?"

"Yes commander!" again the unison response.

He continued the disposition. "Team Three: Eisai, Shizuka, Atsue, and Kina," though only twenty-one, and younger than a number of the other girls, the reserved and careful Kina, with her long blond hair and heart breaking face, was the obvious choice. "Kina will command."

"Yes commander!" the four accepted.

"Yadome," the Raikage met those fierce eyes with some trepidation, fearing that she might silently rebuke him for separating her from her siblings. "You will operate alone, since you have the only completed set of total operations gear."

"Understood commander," she did not seem displeased.

"Very well," he went on, not dwelling on the matter further. "Team one will be dispatched southwest, and head toward the Fire country, team two will go by ship to the waterfall country and head south toward the Rivers country. Team three will standby here for now. Yadome, you will follow team one's path for the start, but will turn further south and make you way toward the tea country. You all know the proper operating procedures by now, so I expect no mistakes. Captain Saito will brief you in further detail. Everyone should depart tomorrow morning."

"Yes Commander!" they all returned quickly. "As unfathomable as the clouds, move like a thunderbolt!" they shouted out the battle motto of all Hidden Cloud ninja.

"Very good," Naotaka grinned heartily, it was always an encouraging sign to here those words. Carefully, he took off the wide hat of office. "Now then, enough of business, I wish to learn how all of you have been keeping, and I suspect master Togawa has many questions for you as well. So, if someone can make tea, we shall all gather and talk for a while."

The group burst into motion, and everything seemed to become chaos for a moment as ninja swirled about and half a dozen conversations began at once. However, the Raikage's trained eye could see the order in the apparent disarray, and he waited patiently.

Eventually, while talking with Kina, he did get that tea, and things went on well. It was a happy moment for the leader of Hidden Cloud, as such visits usually were. He was a soldier, but the realities of his position forced him to play a constant game of politics, a game that cut against his core and wore him down. He sometimes felt the symbols of the office as a hideous weight bearing upon his frame. It made him always feel much older than his forty-four years. These youths were different. They called him Commander, not Kage, and treated him both as their officer and their father. He had watched them grow, distant, but always there, for twelve years now, and they really were in some ways like his family, a family he did not have under his own name. The bonds of that terrible day in the war had remained in them, and only grown stronger with time, a source of tremendous power to them all.

Naotaka could usually only visit the Shinobi-Ite every two or three months, given the demands of secrecy and his time, but he wished it was more often. These young people, only half his age, seemed so vibrant and alive to him, and they did not approach him with the veil of cynicism worn by most of the village's ninja. Now he felt the slow growth of regret as he talked with them, for these times would come to an end. The unit was going to become official, they would face true challenges now, and with the triumphs he knew they would achieve their existence would become known. It was inevitable, but it meant the politics of the ninja world they had been hidden away from would soon collapse down upon them. These troubled survivors, who he had made into weapons of war and forged in secret fires and missions, they would be forced into an even more unforgiving way of life, and their smiles would crack and fade.

Not able to bear all these dark thoughts, the Raikage drifted away toward the edge of the conversation. This act would normally have been impossible, but today the presence of the oddity, the legendary Kazumasu Togawa, who none of the young ninja had ever been allowed to speak to before, held the center of attention. The imposing man in his frightful mask was mobbed by admirers and peppered with questions, but he was game for it, and the Raikage saw him probe carefully with his responses, learning a great deal through the discussion. He silently saluted the other man's ingenuity.

"Time has started to move again for us," a soft but focused voice spoke from just behind the Raikage's right ear.

He started to whirl about, but halted just in time. It was embarrassing enough to be snuck up on, it would be worse to react poorly. Even if there had been another here able to do that to him, the voice was instantly recognizable. "Yes, it has," he answered her unsaid question. "Do you regret it?"

"No," Yadome said clearly. "I do not, we are ready, and we cannot pay you back our lives by being idle."

"True," Naotaka said softly. "And I need those lives, I need them desperately, you eleven are the catalyst, from you shall come all I have hoped for, and I cannot wait any longer. Fate has brought forth this moment, and the general must seize the opportunity when it comes, always, no matter how much he must sacrifice."

"And what are you sacrificing?" Yadome asked. "Our innocence? That was stripped from us long ago."

"No, not that," he answered truthfully. "That is not a sacrifice for a ninja, but something that must be stripped away. No, I fear I am sacrificing your happiness."

"Do not think that," Yadome spoke, and for a moment the mask of death fell away. "You are not the father of our bodies, but you named us as ninja, and made us so, our ninja father. To serve you is our greatest joy, and we have longed for the chance. We all hope to make you proud."

"You already have," Naotaka managed, and said nothing more, for it took all his will to hold back tears, and a ninja cannot allow himself to cry, ever. "I have been proud of you since the day I met you, never feel that you must prove yourself to me, any of you."

"Of course not," Yadome's stern voice returned. "But we will succeed. These men, to steal a demon vessel, they must think themselves invincible. It is the duty of the sniper to reveal the vulnerability of all. We shall make them fear again." It was a dark promise, cold and filled with the shadowy edge of ninjutsu, but it was the truth.

"Indeed, fear is a great weapon of the ninja, but like all weapons it can harm its user," he smiled coldly. "They have forgotten this, but in their lapse of memory they shall find death."

Yadome moved forward, coming to face her commander, though she had to look up to do so, for the Raikage was tall, and she could not match his height. "Master Togawa is the best of the village yes?" she asked him with one of her rare slender smiles.

"Without a doubt," the Raikage replied.

"I would see it for myself," she spoke, not quite a request, not quite a demand.

Naotaka smiled. He had hoped for this, though he could not admit it, for he should not have such hopes, but he could not deny that he did indeed wish to see such a spectacle. "Master Togawa!" he called, using the commander's battlefield voice. "The Lady Yadome wishes to conduct a small demonstration."

The jounin was upright in an instant, his lighting eyes boring into to the pale-skinned young woman. Like his Kage he was approaching twice her age, but he had not lost any of his ability to the advance of years yet, and his pride was great. "What do they call you girl that you think to face the Forked Bolt of the Lightning?"

"I am myself, and nothing more," she answered, meeting those fierce crackling eyes without so much as a blink. "Yadome."

"Then I accept," there was not a moment's hesitation. "Make room all of you!" he shouted.

Ninja scattered as Togawa and Yadome moved to opposite sides of the clearing around the sculpture of stones that had once been a firepit.

"Master Togawa!" Ukita Saito tossed the jounin bag of blunted shuriken and a practice blade shaped roughly like his own.

"Sister!" Fushiyo passed Yadome a quiver filed with arrows whose heads were fashioned of a semi-soft foam, enough to retain shape for flight, but not to cause serious injury.

Thus armed the two ninja took up position.

"Your terms?" Togawa asked Yadome, as he took the practice blade in hand and with swift henge shifted its shape to conform to that of his actual weapon.

"The open fight is not our strength," Yadome answered. "But I set the challenge as the first lethal blow."

"Good," Togawa answered. "You're not fooling around."

"On my mark then!" Saito called from the side. "And stop at the moment I declare it, for any reason!"

"Yes Captain!" the two voices, the clear young woman's and the crackling jounin's, answered as one.

"Then…begin!"

Chapter Notes:

Akatsuki actually does translate as 'dawn' or 'daybreak.' Weird isn't it?

Shinobi-Ite means, loosely, 'ninja archers.'

"As unfathomable as the clouds, move like a thunderbolt!" – This line is taken from The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Chapter VII, verse 13). It practically cries out for use in this context, and as a bonus another part of this same verse was used as the slogan of Takeda Shingen, the Daimyo who ordered what was possibly the first Kunoichi organization to be established.

Because a large number of characters are added here and some will not get a chance to shine till much later I've taken the step of adding dramatis personae here. It will be updated as new characters appear.

Sky's Arrows Dramatis Personae

Hidden Cloud

Kato Naotaka, 7th Raikage, 44 years old, male

Kazumasu Togawa, jounin, 42 years old, male

Ukita Saito, jounin (retired), 59 years old, male

Risen Clouds Temple

Genjiro, Sojo and fuuinjutsu master, 81 years old, male

Tsune, Ama, 19 years old, female

Shinobi-Ite

Yadome, 25 years old, female

Team One:

Shiori, 20 years old, female

Chiyuki, 21 years old, female

Nanami, 22 years old, female

Team Two:

Mikkiko, 20 years old, female

Fushiyo, 19 years old, female

Arisa, 23 years old, female

Team Three:

Eisai, 19 years old, male

Shizuka, 18 years old, female

Atsue, 20 years old, female

Kina, 21 years old, female


	4. Incident 3 Forceful Competition

**Incident Three – Forceful Competition**

**Lightning Country – Undisclosed Encampment**

**Ninja Governed Territory**

**Concurrent with Manga Chapter 314**

The contest had begun long before Saito gave the signal to start, each ninja carefully measuring the foe. Yadome stared deep into those crackling eyes, and took in all of Togawa behind them. She acknowledged the potency of that mask in doing so, it was a greatly useful tool, to hide one's eyes so completely, and to be able to use shifts of current to disorient anyone who tried to meet that gaze, a potent advantage, and one Yadome was sure could be turned to greater purposes.

The pudao sword was more obvious, but no less dangerous. A curved, almost hooked blade, and sharp on both sides it could be wielded either way, forehand to rip into a person, or backhand to slice open. Yadome was certain Togawa could switch between the methods with effortless ease.

She was at a disadvantage of course, facing the master ninja like this, in the open field. It was not the way to fight with a bow, and few of her techniques would be useful in this situation, but the deadly gaze was undaunted. This would be the perfect test, to try and master this situation, this disadvantage.

"Begin!" the strong voice of Saito cut through the dead air between the two ninja.

Togawa's eyes burst into a blinding flash of lightning the moment the battle began, robbing Yadome of vision instantly.

She was ready for this, had expected something of this nature. Togawa would try to close with her; he had to do so, so disorienting her was a logical first step.

Eyes closed Yadome relied on her other senses, an arrow coming effortlessly to her bow, as she listened to the shift in the air, and discerned the path the jounin would take.

Once, and then again, the bowstring snapped, hurling its darts through the low hanging air. Yadome leapt back as she did so, only now daring to open her eyes.

The deadly darts flew accurately, meeting Togawa's shifting path, but Yadome knew it would not be enough.

Without stopping, the jounin spun forward, his sword close to his side, shifting low and high with his motion, knocking both arrows away without losing speed, something he could not have done facing straight forward. When he came around again that hooked sword darted out to pierce toward Yadome. "Bourakurai!" A blast of lightning burst from the blast.

Had she still been on the ground it would have been all but impossible to evade that attack, given its suddenness, but Yadome had already leapt to the trees. Channeling her chakra, she spun herself around to hang upside down, launching an arrow back at Togawa even as the jounin's blast of lightning passed over her head.

There would be no pauses; Yadome knew now, no gaps or breaks, for her foe's skill was too great to allow the motion to cease, to cede the initiative to the archer. Channeling chakra carefully the sniper rotated herself around the tree branch and flipped backward.

Togawa had already rolled aside from her arrow and was advancing again.

As she zigzagged backward Yadome made an effort to disrupt her foe's still unceasing advance. Again and again she pulled back her bowstring, releasing with pinpoint accuracy at great speed. Twice a second she went launching forth arrows not of wood and metal, but formed of lightning.

A simple technique this, one any genin could learn, but no less effective for its simplicity. Though a lightning arrow had not the power to kill, its burning power penetrated armor and flowed through blocking weapons, and the bolts of electrical power, having no physical form to fight the air, moved ten times the speed of a normal arrow. At the very least Yadome believed she would force Togawa to halt his advance in this way.

Lightning eyes crackled and the cloudy voice burned with something distantly akin to laughter. The jounin's left hand lanced down his the arc of his blade, forming seals as he went. "Shizuruheijin," he hissed. Energy slashed down the hooked weapon, enveloping it in a sheath of charged power.

Flipping the pudau sword to his backhand Togawa effortlessly blocked arrow after arrow, and ate up ground toward Yadome even as she fell back before him.

Though her gambit had failed, Yadome spared no time for regret or panic, only considered new options. An archer is always faced with a thousand obstacles and must try and try until a way is found to overcome them all. Saito had taught them all this, though Yadome had long known it intuitively. Her eyes never left Saito's moving form, and in a moment she had read his advance, and knew an opportunity.

Yadome leapt backward and right, and for the merest fraction of a second a slender tree blocked the space between the two combatants. In that moment the bowstring was drawn back and snapped once again, her aim not at her antagonist, but at the tree before him. "Banrai no Ya!"

A great crack split the taut sound of the encampment as the mighty force of thunder burst upon that slender wood.

Young and supple, it was only a small tree, and had not the strength to stand against such an irrational assault. The trunk blasted apart, and the air was filled with wooden splinters.

Those wooden barbs filled the air about Togawa, but the jounin's reactions were frightfully swift and sure. Yadome watched in awe as his right foot slammed down in time with his normal stride, but with channeled chakra his whole body was thrown left, spinning a horizontal path through the air. His profile thus shifted away from the path of the deadly darts he bent his knees hard, so that the hardened armor covering them blocked all the improvised projectiles.

Yadome twisted her own motion and steadied herself to strike her foe with an arrow and end this the moment his profile straightened.

Only too late she realized that she should have made the shot no matter how difficult when she had the chance, for Togawa never straightened.

The jounin had gauged his enemy well; his left hand reached out above his head and grasped the trunk of a nearby tree. With a tremendous display of personal strength and use of chakra he slingshot around it, to come leaping back face front, his blade before him to knock Yadome's arrow aside.

They now held a position opposite each other much as they had when the match began, all the work by both for nothing.

"Well," Togawa murmured. "You're quick. But can you dodge this?"

Yadome knew he would try something dangerous when Togawa spoke, but she had to cede him the moment, for face front to him as she was there was no way to launch a sure attack, and she had no wish to waste precious chakra. Still, she moved the moment he made the first seal, dashing left, aiming for a nearby tree. If he left his guard drop for even a moment in invoking the jutsu she might be able to imitate her foes' own move and position herself behind him.

"Kyuuden," Togawa invoked his technique.

From the air around him six orbs of deadly jagged electrical power sprang to life. Even as Yadome hurled herself past Togawa, moving behind, they shifted into motion: seeking out her form with unerring accuracy.

Not limited by the constraints of physical motion, those balls of charge could traverse the air freely, and so they interposed an obstacle to any strike of hers, to say nothing of the direct danger they presented.

Still, they were only charge. Knowing this, it took only the infinitesimal time necessary for Yadome to draw an arrow to have a counter ready. She skidded to a stop then, and turned to face Togawa's position; her bow drawn and ready. Now was a moment for absolute confidence, the perfection of patience before destruction, completely mastery of the nerves, as the ball lightning closed in upon her. Yadome had to wait, needed them to compress together just enough.

There.

"Fudenki no Ya!" Yadome let the arrow go, electrical power enveloped it much as it had done the jounin's blade moments before, but this charge was of a different stripe. Counter to the power of those spheres of death it passed through them and pulled them all together.

The joint energies discharged with tremendous force, a shriek and flash of light that obscured all eyes, fighter and spectator alike.

Yadome did not move during the release of energy, knowing her foe could almost certainly still see, granted the power of his mask, and besides, staying stationary was surely not what he had expected.

When vision was restored Togawa had moved, but not far, just slightly to the side, enough angle to force a shift of the body should the lady sniper fire, and no more. However, his hands already passed through seals, his blade stuck into the ground before him.

"Hmm…" the veteran mused. "I can't seem to get to you, but perhaps its not necessary…" with the last seal complete even as Yadome sent an arrow flying at his face, Togawa grasped his blade, bringing it up to cleave her arrow clean in half, and then slamming it down to the earth again.

"Houwakaden no jutsu!"

The world tightened. Every hair on Yadome's body went stiff, and energy seemed to cling to every pore, all poised to release at the slightest disturbance.

With a cold realization Yadome understood what Togawa had done. He had covered the world in a layer of charge.

Lightning mask burned with blue fire and the pudao sword came free of the earth, coated in livid electrical energy once more. With all his impressive speed the jounin took up the blade and charged, the energy seemed only to gather to him with every step.

It was a complex maneuver, but Yadome figured it out quickly, for she had to. Should she touch anything the electrical power would surge into her, burning and blasting away her nerves. She could stand steady and shoot arrows of course, but Togawa's charged blade could block them easily, and he was somehow shielded from the effects of his own jutsu. The means, whatever it was Yadome did not know, did not matter, he had stolen her maneuverability in a stroke, a perfect way to change this battle and a classic ploy.

Her options limited Yadome considered for a sole, deadly second, and then grasped a plan.

She hurled her quiver into the air, spinning upward and releasing its arrows as it went.

Legs bent, the lady sniper gathered her chakra, let loose her left hand, and leapt.

She jumped upward in a spiral spin, one counter to the released arrows she had thrown before her. Again and again her hand grasped an arrow, fitted it to the bow, and fired, aiming at nothing but the earth beneath her. There was no time to watch the bolts as they released, only to trust instinct and endless training to form the correct pattern.

At the apex of Yadome's leap she struck her empty quiver, and her hands wrapped around the grip of her bow to make a single seal. "Motokadou no Jutsu!"

Chakra had been invested in each arrow as it was shot, chakra along with the energy behind each snap of the bowstring, and now it bent outward into bands of power, shearing whirling and howling energy, all harkening back to the center point: the grip of the bowstring from whence they came. The spiral pattern, shaped so carefully, bent those paths of energy around each other, forming a funnel, a deafening vortex of fury descending on fletched wings toward Togawa.

The jounin reacted without hesitation when he saw what Yadome had unleashed. He lashed his arm forward and hurled his sword, spinning, into the center of the vortex. "Houden!" he shouted over the roar of the jutsu.

All the gathered charge descended upon the blade in an instant, and then was released.

A massive eruption of power burst through the trees as a boulder falling into water from great height.

Yadome shut her eyes just in time, and was thrown back by terrible, overpowering force, as if the hands of the gods had tossed her. She whirled disoriented through the air, only to strike some distance away with enough force to drive all breath from her body. An audible crack accompanied this strike, the sound coming not from bone, but wood.

Through the pain Yadome gulped down air and her eyes snapped open, their blurred vision nevertheless focusing on the crackling orbs of Kazumasu Togawa's mask. The jounin was advancing. His sword was gone, but he held clenched fists ready.

Yadome did not need to see to know her bow had snapped, and she discarded it without even turning her head, reaching back instead to the pouch of thrown weapons she still carried. Her right hand grasped a pair of kunai and threw these forward, tracing toward the most obvious indicator, those terrible lightning eyes.

It was not a move designed to defeat her foe, kunai were slower in the air than arrows, and Togawa could surely dodge, but it should buy her a moment's time in order to evade his charge.

The kunai came straight toward Togawa, but the jounin did not pause, only opened his hands to reveal two shuriken held between clenched fingers. Yadome's darts were too well thrown for any but a Hyuuga to rip them from the air, and the veteran ninja did not even try, only reached out and let each pierce directly into the holes at the center of the shuriken, stopping them from touching his flesh and then throwing the wasted weapons away.

A sudden, final burst of speed and Togawa was before Yadome, she knew that this time she would not be able to evade, and she must find a counter, but she had no weapons of use. Or did she?

Hidden on the inside of Togawa's wrist was a slender blade, and now it flickered into his hand. Yadome tried to dodge, but he sidestepped her and brought the blade in.

"Got you!" the lightning eyes shined with satisfaction as the blade stopped an eyelash's width from Yadome's throat.

"Have you?" she asked casually, her own eyes passing downward.

Togawa's eyes could not be seen to move, but in a after a long moment of silence her stepped back slowly, having clearly noticed what Yadome had arranged. Her right arm held a shuriken to the broken top half of her bow, the powerfully corded wood bent well back, anchored by her right foot. If she released it the metal dart would be propelled with substantial force into the jounin's skull.

Sharp, punctuated laughter broke out in the clearing, drawing the spectators previously left behind by the destructive force of the cancelled jutsus.

"A draw then?" Togawa chuckled once more. "Impressive, very impressive." He put away the small blade he held, and Yadome, knowing the conclusion was reached, did so as well with her improvised weapon. She stood with her back against the tree that had stopped her still, not certain what happened next. This was the part she was never good at.

Slowly Togawa reached up as touched a hidden clasp on his helmet. The mask fell away from his face and his eyes were revealed in their true form even as he brought his face within inches of Yadome so no other could see.

The lady sniper could easily tell that Togawa did not need the mask to be intimidating. His face was crisscrossed by a trio of nasty little scars, and his visage was dark and grim.

"You have the skill to kill them," the jounin began. "I did not use all my tricks, but neither did you, and still, you could almost match me in this, your worst field. In the open I suspect I still win, though only barely in a life or death contest, but as the archer, you would destroy me." Somehow, it Togawa managed to speak those words without conceding anything at all to Yadome, and she wished she knew how he had done it. "Your chakra total is low, very few reach jounin with less," Togawa pointed out something Yadome had long known herself, her greatest weakness. "But it should not matter, your movements are flawless, you waste no energy, expend only the necessary power. I needed far more chakra to compete with you. I did not believe at first when the Raikage said he would send you against them, but now I do," again, with slow careful motions, Togawa replaced his mask, letting lightning envelop his dark eyes. "Do not disappoint me."

"Of course not, sir," Yadome answered, and managed the slightest of smiles.

"Hehe…good," Togawa turned about then and stepped aside, letting the Raikage and the Shinobi-Ite in to assess the contest at last.

Chapter Notes:

A Pudao is a broad-bladed, somewhat curved or hooked weapon of Chinese origin. Togawa's is sharpened on both sides, something normally not done.

Jutsu Names:

'Bourakurai' means 'Spinning Lightning Bolt'

'Shizuruheijin' means 'Sizzling Blade'

'Banrai no Ya' means 'Heavy Thunder Arrow'

'Kyuuden' means 'Ball Lightning'

'Fudenki no Ya' means 'Negative Charge Arrow'

'Houwakaden' means 'Saturation Charge'

'Motokadou' means 'Seeking Vortex'

'Houden' means 'Discharge'


	5. Incident 4 PrePositioning

**Incident Four – Pre-positioning**

**Marsh Country – 40 Kilometers from Lightning Border**

**Marsh Daimyo Territory**

**Concurrent with Manga Chapter 317**

The inn's food was good, Nanami decided after a bit of reflection. Pity the same couldn't be said of the atmosphere. The whole place was filled with rowdy, grubby men imbibing far too much sake. Shiori had spent a few moments peppering some of those men with questions earlier, and apparently they were all here as the result of some kind of labor dispute involving the salt mines north of the town. There was plenty of anger in these men, who stood to lose their only jobs, but Nanami knew that the Marsh Country's new daimyo was buckling down on citizen unrest. She was certain it would turn ugly soon enough. That brought mixed feelings to the young woman. On the one hand one side or another was almost certain to hire Cloud ninja to help settle matters, which meant further profit for the village, but on the other hand this kind of dispute could only destabilize the Marsh country, the Lightning country's perpetually chaotic southwestern neighbor.

Such chaos was not something Nanami welcomed. Captain Saito had taught the Shinobi-Ite its history well, and they knew it was chaos in the Marsh country that had sparked violent encounters between Cloud and Leaf ninja, and eventually led her village down the path to war. Wars like that must always be prevented; this was something all the snipers knew. Wars left too many bodies behind, too many innocents, a fate they themselves had almost shared.

Thankfully, there were ways to prevent wars. Nanami recalled three years ago, when there had been another cause of instability in the marshes, how she had gone out with Atsue and they had killed both of the merchant lord instigators on the same night. That had been at the Raikage's secret order and the Cloud village had never been implicated. In the nature of all the Shinobi-Ite's victories over the years, only the members and their commander knew. Now they will know, Nanami knew with a thrill of pleasure. We will not be forgotten forever, they will whisper of us soon, and know. She did not like killing, but her skills and the skills of her sisters were her great pride. It would be good for other ninja to learn of them, to not have to walk the streets of Hidden Cloud always pretending to be something else.

As Nanami finished her meal to her right Chiyuki was dealing with an unfortunate obstruction. One of the men, obviously with too much alcohol in his bloodstream, was attempting to haul her up to an informal open space and make her dance to rowdy drinking songs.

Seeing this happen her sister sighed, but did not act. Chiyuki could handle it herself, and it would be best to keep these men's attention on only one of them. The brothel masters who had chosen them as children had possessed good eyes, and the Shinobi-Ite held no homely members. None of them were beauties either, but their looks and the close-cut piecemeal outfits they wore to travel made them objects of pursuit for many men. Chiyuki, of Team One's three members, was the prettiest, with glossy shoulder length black hair and a smooth, luminous face possessed of large brown eyes. Willowy and graceful, her profile was certainly capable of turning heads, especially those filled with sake fumes. Now she had to handle it without revealing who she truly was, to dissuade without displaying anything to betray the mask of traveling women on holiday. Of course, accepting the offer was not a possibility, it would drag Chiyuki into these men's business, and make it far more difficult to extricate herself without being forced into a bed, and that could not even be considered.

The girls were not ignorant of men or without past relations, they had all had their chances to experiment with the young men of Cloud village, and were freer than most, given their childhoods, but assignations, unless directly the purpose of the mission, were forbidden in the field.

"Enough," Chiyuki snapped offhandedly after a particularly foolish comment. "Men who can't hold themselves straight or string together a worthwhile sentence are boring." Her voice was deliberately disinterested, a perfect mask of superior distain. "You all couldn't even be said to have 'rough charm,'" she slid her right hand through her hair. "Really, such a shamefully bothersome town to stop in, at least the food was good." She turned to Nanami and Shiori. "All this bothersome effort has made me tired, I'll be heading up." The young woman stood smoothly and with careful poise slid elusively path the envious looks of the miners.

It wasn't the most graceful exit, but Nanami figured it would do. There was only a small chance these fools would do anything but let Chiyuki's remarks add to their sorrows and continue drowning themselves in sake.

So, moments later Nanami and Shiori shared a glance, pushed their plates away, and made a quick exit toward their room while no one was paying any particular attention to them.

The room the three Shinobi-Ite had rented was not impressive; indeed it was one of the cheapest, with the three futons crammed together in a space designed for only two. Not that they minded, staying in lodging was luxurious compared to sleeping outside, and Nanami could never see a reason why not to spend the night with her sisters.

"That meal was too loud, and hot besides," Chiyuki remarked as they entered.

The black-haired girl was already seated, a small and much wrinkled map before her.

"At least the food was good," Shiori laughed lightly, and joined her sister on the floor. "For the rest, whatever."

Nanami joined them on the floor without saying anything; she felt that as the appointed leader she should not make such flippant remarks. It was perhaps too serious of her, but she knew no other way to do things, having always been the serious one compared to some of her sisters.

Chiyuki traced a line across the map with her finger. "We'll pass north of Konoha in four more days," she determined. "We should have learned something by then don't you think?"

"Yeah." Shiori remarked. "Commander Kato got word on the day Yugito was taken right? So they can't be that far ahead of us?" she looked to Nanami expectantly.

Nanami had anticipated this, only the team leaders had joined Captain Saito, Commander Kato, and Master Togawa for the detailed briefing while the others had put together the equipment necessary for a sustained field mission. Now her sisters wanted the information. Well, there was really no reason to hold anything back, and she had been told to inform them as she wished. Carefully though, she motioned for silence, and listened carefully, make certain no one could overhear. Thankfully this was easy to ascertain, the boisterous crowd below filled the inn with sound, and it was yet early enough that no one else was upstairs presently.

"Not that far," Nanami answered, keeping her voice carefully level, striving to present her knowledge without bias. "The bodies were found only a few hours after the attack, but it was some distance from Cloud, closer to the border. That distance would take perhaps a day, and we did not leave till the next morning. They must have at least two days on us, perhaps three, and we are not pressing for speed.

"That's a lot of ground," Chiyuki commented. "They could go anywhere."

"So they could," Nanami agreed. "But we'll just have to track them, and they are supposedly very noticeable."

"How can an s-level criminal be noticeable?" Shiori was openly skeptical.

"They must be confident," Chiyuki interjected.

"That is what Master Togawa said," Nanami recalled the harsh words of the veteran jounin. "They are so certain no one can beat them they dare anyone to challenge them, and make challenges less likely. Also, Commander Kato explained that the villages have all chosen not to move against them in the past, hoping to take advantage of actions against enemies, so they may believe no one will attack them."

"What a stupid gamble," Shiori chopped out the words.

"We lost it anyway," Chiyuki added sadly. "So how are they recognized?"

"They wear dark cloaks, with a pattern of red clouds upon them," Nanami told her sisters, though she still hardly believed it herself, to wear something so obvious all the time was foolish, the kind of unnecessary risk you never took. The Shinobi-Ite themselves wore outfits of many pieces, designed so the girls, who were mostly of similar build, could swap them up easily, rapidly creating new outfits and appearances to disguise their nature.

"Stupid," Shiori threw in, "Something so obvious, and hot too."

They all laughed at that.

"So, what else do we know?" Chiyuki wondered. Her veneer of languid disregard was only that, a light fabrication to hide a fiercely curious mind.

"Only a little," Nanami answered regretfully, and she did regret it, she hated not having enough information. "We don't know who specifically we are chasing, since apparently no one got a good look at these two. The Akatsuki always travel in pairs apparently, that much was made clear, so it should be only two we chase for now. There are nine of them of course, but there were originally ten before one quit the group."

"Someone quit a group of s-level criminals?" Shiori's eyes were wide. "That one must have a death wish."

"Perhaps," Nanami considered anyone who committed treason great enough to flee a village could only be begging for death, but perhaps it was not the same everywhere. "The one who left was Orochimaru."

_That_ name stopped her sisters cold. They all knew it, Captain Saito had taught them their history well, and Orochimaru was a famous name. For twenty years he and his teammates Tsunade and Jiraiya had been the most famous team of ninja in the whole world. Their exploits were legendary, and their abilities well documented from many battles. Most of all their tale was known for its strange twist. Orochimaru had betrayed his village, and his teammates had disappeared just after he did, all three of the legends vanishing into obscurity at once. Recently they had reappeared, and it had been the talk of the ninja world, the battle in Konoha's heart during the chunin exam, the One-Day War it was called, and Orochimaru had claimed the life of two Kages. Saito had told them later that Jiraiya had reappeared during that battle, turning the tide to save Konoha, and then word had come that Tsunade had emerged as well, to become the Godaime Hokage. It had been a stunningly rapid turn of events, a perfect demonstration of the ever-shifting world of the ninja. The Shinobi-Ite had taken the lesson to heart.

"So he was one of them, but isn't anymore?" Shiori tried to confirm.

"So the spies have informed us," Nanami added, "and he was seen by thousands during the attack on Konoha, but he carried no signs of belonging to the group."

"Well, so that's one of ten," Chiyuki appeared to file away the information. "What about the others?"

"There aren't many," again the young woman wished she had more knowledge, even a bit. "There are only a few known members, just those obviously recognizable."

"Oh, so people like Master Togawa with that crazy mask of his?" Shiori remarked.

"Something like that," Nanami smiled slightly. It was pretty obvious. "Well, anyway. The first we know is Hoshigake Kisame."

"That's the Mist traitor right?" Chiyuki questioned. "The Demon Shark?"

"Oh," Shiori recalled. "I get what you mean by recognizable. He's supposed to have blue skin isn't he?"

"Indeed," Nanami had seen the pictures just like everyone else in the bingo book. It was obvious where the name demon shark came from. "We don't know Kisame's partner unfortunately, but they were seen together in Konoha shortly after the One-Day War."

"What were they doing there?" Chiyuki wondered.

"We don't know," Nanami was getting tired of that refrain. "Anyway, number two is Diedara, the Blast Artist."

"The crazy bastard who blew a mountaintop off in Earth country?" Shiori had a surprisingly strong memory for trivia events involving destruction.

"That's him," Nanami confirmed it. "He was seen around Sand recently, though we don't have any details of what happened there, since there aren't many agents in Suna, and his partner is unknown too."

"So that's four of nine," Chiyuki kept track. "Anyone else?"

"Just one more, and it's not confirmed," Nanami was hesitant to mention this, she disliked relying on such hearsay accounts. "But a report overheard by an agent in the Rice Field country gives a description matching the former Waterfall ninja Kakuzu."

"That's the one they call Pillage isn't it?" Shiori caught this immediately. "Who sold his teammate's body for the bounty after he was killed?" That particularly sordid story had been gossip talk among young ninja for weeks.

"Right," Nanami answered, though she felt the title was a regrettable one. "But remember, that's not confirmed."

"Well, so that's three pairs," Chiyuki mused. "That means there's one other pair and one lone member not accounted for right?" she sighed lightly. "Makes it rather tricky, doesn't it?"

"Ah, whatever," Shiori scoffed. "As long as we do things right it shouldn't matter who they are. Sniping is sniping is sniping, the target never learns of you, so the target's abilities don't matter."

"That must be our goal at least," Nanami decided, determined to play things carefully. "We cannot let them know who we are, or our methods. The Raikage said we must make them fear us, make them dance to our tune, so we will have to be very careful at first."

"Boring," Shiori droned. "But I hear you. So, what's our plan specifically?"

"We're supposed to circle north of Konoha," Nanami explained. "Word is that the Akatsuki are based somewhere to the west, beyond the Fire country. Assuming that's true they have to cross it to take Yugito wherever they want to take her. We're to be in position to intercept."

"Intercept?" Chiyuki remarked. "Not track them down?"

"Genjiro is supposed to provide the general location," Nanami recalled the details to her sisters. "Once he has it the information will be radioed to us and we'll close in from there, we should only have to track them over a very short distance, and they are recognizable. Only if the first effort fails will the net be broadened."

"Hope he succeeds," Shiori interjected. "It'd be good to strike first, make the rest easier to find. Besides, we can't let them get home if we really want to save Yugito. We do want that right?"

"We do," Nanami managed, without much enthusiasm. Jinchuuriki scared her. She'd only seen Yugito once, and had never spoken to her, but the woman was unnerving, dangerous in appearance. She radiated all the deadliness of her sister Yadome, but none of the restraint, the control. If the Shinobi-Ite were a drawn bow, then the jinchuuriki were funnel clouds, impossibly deadly, but utterly capricious. "The Raikage said the attempt should be made if opportunity arises, but we should not put ourselves in jeopardy over her."

"Fine with me," Chiyuki replied. "I guess we're ready to go then."

"So it would seem," Nanami was still hesitant, and she ran through a checklist in her mind. Had everything been addressed, she had a nagging suspicion something had been missed, but she always did that, even when nothing was. "Well then, Shiori, help me alarm the door and window, and then we can get some rest. We should press on hard; I want to be ready when word comes."

"Right," her sister nodded, and then set to work.

Chapter Notes

I have chosen to refer to the small, unlabeled country closest to Lightning Country as the Marsh country, a country that was named during the anime fillers but whose location was not specified. It seems appropriate given the coastal position.

It case it hasn't been obvious, none of the Shinobi-Ite are related by blood, but they think of each other as sisters because of their extremely tight group bonds.


	6. Incident 5 To Spy Darkness

**Incident Five – To Spy Darkness**

**Lightning Country – Risen Clouds Temple**

**Monastic Controlled Territory**

**Concurrent with Manga Chapter 318**

Genjiro surveyed the room one final time, his trained eyes checking every candle, every charm, every last position. Only when he was satisfied that all was indeed in place did he sit down cross-legged on the thin tatami mat in the center of the room. As he sat he sighed, knowing the strain of what was to come.

Risen Clouds temple was subordinate to the ninja, there was no changing this. The alliance was ancient and must be honored. Still, it rankled to take orders from that bothersome young Raikage. Genjiro firmly believed that there was nothing wrong with the old ways. They had stood him in good stead all his life, and why change a world seemingly so close to peace? Nevertheless, he understood and agreed with the necessity of what must now be done. He would rather Master Togawa be sent to inflict the ninja's justice than those little girls, barely more than children, but the act of justice was the most important.

Before Genjiro was a large map, one of the best in the whole village. It stretched fully three meters by two, a massive display of the cartographer's art. The large size was necessary, for a smaller scale map would obscure the detail he could obtain. The map was surrounded by a complex pattern of seals, a three-layered circle, with crossveins all about it, a massive divination process Genjiro had labored for some six hours to draw. The rest of the preparations, incense, secondary charms, and more, had taken almost as long, all with the care to insure everything was correct, for the slightest inaccuracy could easily doom even the best fuuinjutsu master.

Now, finally, Genjiro grasped the long ceremonial needle before him. It was time to begin. He took the other particular object he would need for this in his left hand slowly, the one the Raikage had found for him, the fine ceramic comb of Nii Yugito. This he placed in his lap, attuning it to chakra points on his body.

With a flick of his bony wrist Genjiro sent the needle spinning out over the map, whirling as a top across the vellum, but not touching it, no, it hung suspended ever so slightly in the air.

Suddenly, in a motion to defy his seemingly infirm state, the monk's hands smacked together and he began to chant, his aged voice strong and sonorous as the sutras fell from his lips, invoking the power inscribed in the spell circle and the almighty Buddhas.

Time seemed to condense, and Genjiro's awareness shifted elsewhere. He was no longer in the closed room in the temple, staring at a map. Instead he was looking down upon the land with eagle eyes, gazing at not the physical world, but the flow of energy upon it, seeking and searching, trusting in the Buddha to guide his eyes, to take him in the right direction.

Slowly, with the pace of those who have transcended time, the journey passed beyond the marsh country, through the clay country past that, and into the Country of Fire, the land of the hot-blooded Leaf ninja. Currents of power swirled about the Fire country, many and varied, for it was the central land, and always in flux, but Genjiro had long known this, and he ignored those things not his search, silently channeling them away, looking only for the signal he sought, the dark blue flame of the Nibi, the match to the design upon Yugito's comb.

How long he gazed down upon that great land Genjiro could not know, nor did he care, he would go as long as the Buddha would guide him, and he would either receive his answer, or not, as was his duty.

At last, there came a flickering echo of blue, a shimmer of flame rapidly fading, but the needle dashed across the map and Genjiro's vision caught onto something. Not Yugito, he knew, this was not the great potency of the Nibi, but the legacy of its touch. Those who had taken Yugito, they must no longer have her, but now, they had been found.

The needle screamed soundlessly across the vellum, settling to a point in the northeast of Fire country, perhaps halfway to the Clay country border. There it spun with frightful rapidity, spinning and spinning.

Genjiro felt satisfaction at discovering what he sought, the trail he must locate, and his chanting slowed as he prepared to complete the ceremony.

Then something unexpected occurred.

Darkness flared across the map in Genjiro's vision, a great hideous blot of black energy storming outward from the point the needle held. The current of that darkness seemed to reach out to Genjiro, brushing his awareness.

Hideous cold horror washed over the monk, and for an instant his chant faltered.

Silent laughter could be heard in Genjiro's mind, now filled with endless images of death and destruction, and all-consuming hunger seeking the annihilation of all, and abomination antithetical to all life, all virtue. The darkness flowed outward in a great torrent, covering the room and surrounding Genjiro.

Then it collapsed inward, coming to consume him.

For seventy years and more Genjiro had lived his life for the Buddha, had given his all in faith and holy work. He had been diligent and had learned almost all there was to know of Fuuijutsu and the mystical ways. His surprise had lasted only a moment, and he was only an instant in recognizing his foe.

Darkness swooped down upon him, but Genjiro's chanting changed, and his hands, unseen and unknown in this strange space, nevertheless charted rapid perfect seals through the air. "Almighty Kannon, benefactor of men, I beseech you now, land me your strength and hold back this evil!"

A ring of radiant seals materialized about Genjiro, spinning through space and overlapping rapidly, forming a globe of golden energy.

The dark wave fell upon that wall of power and recoiled, flowing away. Again it burst down and again it was turned back, but it did not recede. No, this evil power swarmed along the pathways of the spirits and came down in crushing power, to press down on Genjiro's defenses without letup.

The monk was terrified, never in his life had he faced an evil this thoroughly without morals, without restraint. Its source rested somewhere beyond any depravity.

His terror did not weaken him, for he was an old man, and did not fear death, no, this dark power was an affront to the aged holy man, and his fear transformed unto strength.

The Lotus Sutra leapt to Genjiro's lips, and it rang clear forth in this strange world of soul and spirit, reinforcing his gilded wall of light. The darkness pressed in, but it could not crush him, could not break through.

Stalemate.

The monk held fast, he was untouched and unharmed, and so long as the holy words rang free he would remain so, he would not be overpowered, but neither could he cast out the darkness, for should he drop his defenses for even a second it would reach out to crush him, so he could not counter. He was forced to hold this space, all things stopped. Genjiro could endure, would endure, he would not fail now, he refused to even contemplate it, his spirit was unshakable as the mountain, and endless as the ocean, but his body had not such strength. He could chant forever in his mind, but in time his body would fade, as thirst and fatigue brought him down. If nothing changed, this evil darkness, inhuman and unbodied, would outlast him.

Not for a moment did Genjiro give up hope or falter upon this realization. He was confident his chance would come; Buddha had guided him to this darkness. He might be tested, but in time he would be delivered. He was certain of this, and he would be prepared when the chance came. The Raikage was not the only one who could make plans. His enemy was mindless, and the monk would be ready. It would come, he was certain…

"Grandfather?" Tsune called carefully through the door, making certain she did not brush the tea tray against the old wood. "Are you there Grandfather? I am sure the ceremony was hard, would you like some refreshment?" She kept her voice as carefully courteous as possible, knowing that though her grandfather was an old man, and not strong, he refused to be patronized.

No answer came, and Tsune was puzzled. She knew what her grandfather was trying to do, to locate someone for the sake of the Raikage. It was a difficult task, certainly, and time-consuming, but Genjiro had gone to begin the ceremony eight hours ago. He had no returned to take the evening meal, and it seemed too long now. The ceremony could not take that long, even for a distant land. She had accepted that her grandfather might have fallen asleep afterwards, but surely he would awaken now to her voice. The old monk had a canny nose for hot tea.

"Grandfather, is everything all right?" Tsune called through the door again, putting her ear to it.

She heard nothing at first, but then something strange reached her ear. It was not truly a sound, but more a sense, something muddled to her still-inexperienced spiritual awareness. Its presence could not, however, be denied, and as she listened Tsune thought she grasped something more concrete. "The Lotus Sutra?" she whispered in surprise. That made no sense to her, such a thing was a general invocation, among the most powerful of those, but it had no place in the divination her grandfather was attempting.

Concern warred for a moment with discretion in Tsune, before it won over her young heart. "Grandfather, are you all right? I'm coming in."

Placing the tea tray on the floor the young nun opened the door.

The room seemed completely undisturbed, nothing out of place at all. Tsune saw her grandfather still seated before the map, holding the proper pose for his work, and all the seals and charms in place.

Then she looked closer. The first sign of something wrong came from the map itself. The needle hovered there spinning, whirling at maddening speed about the same point, not shifting. That was the sign of completion, when the needle pointed solely to that which was sought, so why did her grandfather not move? Then, with a bit of fading light from hallway to aid her, Tsune got a good glimpse of her grandfather.

She gave a small cry in her shock. Sweat poured down the old man's neck and soaked through his robes, and his body was stiff and drawn, utterly pale.

"Grandfather!" Tsune dashed toward the elderly monk. "What has happened?" Her hand reached out and grasped his shoulder.

Tsune was drawn into another world, a world of war.

Darkness leapt up all about her, a hideous raging evil desiring only to consume, a thing without morals, only a primal, animal hunger for death. It reached out then, great hands of horror coming to envelop her.

Had Tsune been a normal girl, or even just a simple young nun, the might of that darkness would have overwhelmed her in an instant, changing nothing, but she was the granddaughter of the fuuinjutsu master Genjiro, the only one of eight grandchildren to inherit his talents and his desires. Tsune had a powerful faith for one of her young age, and all among the clergy of the mighty Risen Clouds Temple had marked her out for great things.

The darkness came forth, and she reacted. Her hands leapt through seals, imperfect, but forceful, filled with youthful power and her righteous filial concern for her grandfather. "Almighty Amida Buddha, aid your servant and cast out this evil!"

The wave of power threw back the darkness for the barest of moments before it surged down toward Tsune again, but in that moment the young woman saw beyond the mass of evil power a golden globe, and within it her uncle.

The old man seemed to go from seated to standing without any time passing. His hands drew seals of gold in the air, burning with white flame. "Oh Great King of Light, Fudo Myo-o, answer my prayer now, and defend your servants from this darkness!"

The seals of flame whirled, spiraling about themselves till they touched, and burst forth in a massive explosion of flame. Within the explosion Tsune could see with trembling awe the image of a massive being surrounded by flame and with eyes of wrath. In his right hand he held a gleaming sword, in his left a rope.

The darkness recoiled, then surged, but the rope twitched, and all was enwrapped in burning coils. Tsune felt her eyes burn from the brightness as the great sword slowly descended down to cleave that darkness.

Then, in an eyeblink, all was silent.

Tsune felt a weight against her hand, and was suddenly holding her grandfather up as the old man fell forward from obvious exhaustion.

"Tsune," Genjiro's voice was tired and raw. "My thanks. You have been the instrument of my deliverance. The Buddha smiles upon you indeed."

"But grandfather, I…I did not…I…" she mumbled, confused, unable to fully take in all that had happened.

"Hush," Genjiro told her. "In time you will understand. Now," he ordered. "Mark the map where the needle lies, and help me up. I must see the Raikage at once."

"But grandfather it is late, and you are in no condition to…"

"At once granddaughter!" Genjiro bellowed his conviction absolute. "He must know, no time can be wasted, the things I have learned this day must be told to him!" his voice moderated. "Now, please, help me up, I must rely on your strength for now, and you too must know of this, so, let us hurry."

Tsune regretted her grandfather's haste, but she could not halt the old man, and trying to convince him would only make him more obstinate. Instead she did as she was told and marked the map, and then rolled it up. At the least she managed to convince Genjiro to take some tea and change his clothes before going to see the Raikage. Night had fallen, and she did not want her grandfather to fall ill, but she had to help him hurry everything. It all was so shocking to her, what exactly had happened, what had been that massive darkness, powerful enough to contain her grandfather, and why must the Raikage know? Tsune felt fear as the bearers hurried them to the headquarters.

The Raikage had a tendency to work fairly late. He had tremendous responsibilities after all, no family, and spent much of his day having his time wasted by political machinations. Filling out reports late into the evening was therefore one of those things he did regularly.

A visit from Genjiro at this hour was, however, unprecedented. Naotaka didn't think the old monk had left the temple after nightfall in a decade. Certainly he'd earned the right to his blankets after all the years. It was hard to believe he was here, but the Raikage's secretary had made it very clear that the temple had radioed ahead and said Genjiro would speak to him right now. Such a move was almost a demand, and Naotaka recognized something strange must have happened for a traditionalist like Genjiro to push the proprieties so far. He wondered what it could be. The fuuinjutsu master was supposed to be looking for Yugito's captors. The Raikgage suspected something strange had been discovered, and that likely wasn't good.

When Genjiro entered his office, leaning on the shoulder of an ama the Raikage had not been introduced to but who must be his granddaughter, the leader of Hidden Cloud struggled to keep his face impassive. The old man looked as if he'd been in a wrestling match with someone half his age he was so worn down, but from his triumphant carriage, he must have won the match, which hardly made any sense. "Are you ill Genjiro?" Naotaka felt he must ask.

"No," Genjiro's voice was strong, firm. "I am hale, simply very tired, but that must wait. I will rest when I have made things plain."

"Very well," Naotaka did not like this; his intuition sensed something ill at hand. "What is it?"

"You ordered me to find the ones who captured Yugito," Genjiro began. "This I have done." He gestured to his granddaughter.

Tsune took the large map off her back and unrolled it, revealing a large mark in the northeast Fire country. "They are here," she explained in a soft voice. "This is very near the Fire Temple."

Looking at the map Naotaka saw that to be the case and such a thing was very good news, the plans had taken a great leap forward, just as he had hoped Genjiro would deliver. "This is excellent news, and I will relay it to the field immediately, but surely you need not have come yourself if you are so tired."

"That is only the lesser news," Genjiro explained, irritation creeping into his voice. "Where they are is far less important than what I learned of them."

The ill omen was back in the Raikage's mind. As he understood it, nothing should have come into play in this task beyond locations. "What did you learn?" he asked, knowing that the truth must be told.

"When I located the thieves," Genjiro spoke carefully. "A strange thing happened. Somehow, the essence of one reacted to the divination, to the scrolling power, and was able to attack me."

"Attack?" the Raikage didn't understand this, a rare and disconcerting event.

"There is a link created by the divination," Genjiro told him. "Normally it is meaningless, because though essences can cross it such things are not directed, even a Bijuu's power will not cause anything more than a ripple. This essence though, was different; it had only one direction, absolute hostility to all things. It poured through the link, a crushing darkness, attempting to consume my soul."

The words were said without passion, but they fell like thunder in the Raikage's mind. Consume the soul? Such a thought was terrifying, incomprehensible.

"I resisted of course," Genjiro went on, "the Buddha was with me, and with Tsune's blissful help I was able to exorcise the evil, so I survive to stand before you."

There was more too it, Naotaka could tell Genjiro was not describing the struggle in full, but he would not probe. The world of spirits and souls was not his own. He simply determined to use stronger language than he would otherwise when he thanked the Risen Clouds Temple for its assistance. It was all he could do. "What does this mean?" he asked, trying to translate from one world to the other.

"Simple," Genjiro answered. "There is only one way for this kind of essence to take form. It must have come from one who has given his soul to Jashin." The last word was practically spat, as if Genjiro could not bear to say it.

"To an evil god?" the Raikage asked, still not certain he understood what was being discussed.

"Not just an evil god, but a specific one," Genjiro continued, "a legendary evil following, among the worst of all, the Cult of Slaughter, worshippers of the death of all, death without purpose, without any progression on the wheel of life, the very antithesis of all good. One who gives over his soul becomes a creature of death, not life, a literal vessel of power, a man no more."

"So," the Raikage put the pieces together. "You're saying one of the Akatsuki, one of the one's who captured Yugito, is such a person?"

"Yes," Genjiro nodded. "A blasphemous worshipper of Jashin, one who all other faiths will unite to exterminate."

"I see," the Raikage did, at least in part. "This is worthy news, it enhances our knowledge of the Akatsuki, but why is it so critical that you had to come rushing over here?"

"You don't understand!' Genjiro howled, the wear of the day clearly showing on him. "The Jashin are creatures of death, forsaken of life, death is their ally, not their foe, their great lover, not their enemy!"

"Wait," cold horror took a place in the pit of the Raiakge's stomach. "You mean…"

"They cannot die!" Genjiro shouted at last, a brutal crescendo, before he moderated his voice again, realizing what he was doing. "Normal weapons, jutsu, these things might damage the body, but the Jashin vessel will always be renewed, will come back, just as strong as before. Those girls you've sent out, they cannot defeat this one."

"A foe that cannot die," the Raikage turned the words over in his mind carefully, not liking them one bit. "An invulnerable foe," he paused. "No, nothing is invulnerable, nothing." His eyes narrowed upon Genjiro. "There must be a way to eliminate him."

"There is," the old monk's eyes gleamed with the truest anger Naotaka had ever seen, a righteous fury seemingly of the very gods themselves, though he would never speak such a blasphemy. "Because there is not life in the vessel, if the Jashin presence is pushed aside fully, even for a moment, the soul will be dragged screaming to the hell awaiting it and the body will crumble to dust. The dark god's power, without a vessel, will simply vanish in the light."

"How can it be done?" the Raikage asked immediately.

"I can prepare a scroll that will invoke the exorcism, but it must be placed at a precise point upon the body or it will fail. You would need to hold the vessel in place first," Genjiro laid out his plan.

"I imagine capturing an immortal would be rather difficult," Naotaka spoke carefully, "but there are other ways to hit a precise mark. Can you make your scroll so it could be wrapped about an arrow?"

The fierce light in the old monk's eyes deepened. "Perhaps all that effort was not wasted after all," he whispered fiercely. "It can be done, but it will take time."

"Then get some rest old man," the Raikage commanded sternly. "You obviously need it. Then get to work." He turned toward the young Tsune. "See that he does not overexert himself."

"Yes my lord," she answered carefully. "I will make surely of it."

"Good, now go home," he dismissed them.

When the pair was gone the Raikage pulled a small radio unit out from his desk. Activating it he entered a short message in a coded pattern of dots and dashes, the specific code known only to the Shinobi-Ite. That done he turned to the map Tsune had left on his floor, and began planning out how to deploy his third team for a relay.

Chapter Notes:

Kannon is the Japanese Buddhist goddess of mercy.

The Lotus Sutra is one of the more important sutras, it is central to several Japanese Buddhist sects.

Tsune is an Ama, a Buddhist nun

Amida Buddha – the Buddha as master of paradise, a mighty holy and protective deity.

Fudo Myo-o – Most powerful of the Myo-o, a group of deities empowered to combat devils.

Jashin, though this term is used by Hidan to signify his cult, it simply means 'evil god.'


	7. Incident 6 Witness to Tragedy

**Incident Six – Witness to Tragedy**

**Fire Country – Outside of Bounty Office**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**Concurrent with Manga Chapter 322-328**

"You are not to engage the two who took Yugito," Captain Saito had ordered them clearly. "Track and observe, but don't engage."

"But why?" Nanami had demanded over the radio, after all, why had they been sent if not to kill these two?

"I have it on Genjiro's absolute authority that one of them cannot be killed by normal means, some dark spiritual pact provides immortality," her superior had told her.

Nanami hadn't believed it, immortality was not something she accepted, it flew in the face of all she knew of the ninja way, but it made the order make sense. "Just one of them?"

"Genjiro only mentioned one, the other is likely not a follower of this 'Jashin' and so does not share that power," Saito explained.

"Can we kill that one then?" Nanami requested.

"For now do not engage either," Saito's orders were absolute. "A plan has been established to deal with this and will be ready soon. Focus on locating the enemy, but only engage if you must to defend yourselves, and even then prioritize safety and escape. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir," Nanami replied. "I understand; Team One out."

She had not believed her Captain then, but she did now.

The rangefinder embedded in Nanami's polymer goggles read one hundred eighty three meters. Her field bow, with its simple strengthening seals, could manage a killing shot at just over twice that, but not through the forested terrain currently presented. Still, she suddenly wished her distance was greater, a lot greater, and she had to clench her hands to resist the urge to signal her teammates over the short range radio.

One hundred eighty three meters away Nanami was staring at a man standing upright, apparently talking easily, with two massive knives embedded in his chest. It was absolutely horrifying.

Slowly the young woman took a careful breath, steadying herself. Her camouflage was good, the tough and well made patterned gear and paints obscured her almost totally, and for the stakeout she'd draped a chakra-dampening blanket over most of her body as well. Another breath. The bow was still in her hands, the powerful secure weapon she trusted, it was strung and an arrow was notched. That was the most comforting part, the arrow. Nanami took a great deal of solace in the possession of that slender shaft of wood, bound with its explosive seals. Explosion arrows were easy to make, everyone in the Shinobi-Ite had learned the method, and the one Nanami held now could blast that walking monster into a thousand pieces should she chose to launch it. He might live, she decided, but those blades left holes in his body. A mass of ruined flesh harms no one.

There was a great temptation to launch that arrow, but Nanami would obey her orders. She could not engage. Besides, she would never attack while the Leaf ninja could see. They were unanticipated, and they must not come to know of her team's presence.

It had been Chiyuki's idea to stake out the bounty office, after they had learned, while wearing henge disguises as Leaf ninja, that their targets had been carrying a body with them. It had been easy to learn that from a woodcutter, once the information Genjiro had obtained got them close. Nanami had been pleased to learn her teammate's intuition was correct when the two targets arrived, and even more pleased to confirm one of them as Kakuzu, she recognized the massive Waterfall ninja from his bingo book picture. She had been less pleased at the order restraining her arrows from flight, but now was not so sure. It seemed Saito had directed the wiser course.

Her nerves steadied Nanami stared out at the fight. She had strong eyes, and the scope mounted on her bow provided additional magnification, so it was easy enough to see what was happening. Observation was important, it would matter a great deal to learn the abilities of this pair of Akatsuki, especially their supposedly immortal foe.

So it was clear to Nanami when Kakuzu emerged to slam at the crouching Leaf ninja. The massive man was surprisingly fast, and terribly strong, but he'd attacked barehanded and close in, when he could have thrown weapons from a distance and achieved the same effect. That much boded well.

There was a storm of motion from the scene of battle as the four Leaf ninja and the two Akatsuki shifted positions. Then, strangely, Kakuzu fell behind his partner, moving away from the enemy. This didn't make sense to Nanami, if the man's asset was his strength, then why back off?

Moments later one of the Leaf ninja, a bearded man with little knuckle-knives, charged toward the immortal target. The abomination countered with one of the knives embedded in his body, even as he jumped about to evade another attack from some kind of dark strands. Nanami supposed this must be some jutsu used by the leaf ninja, and a flicker of her eyes pinned the source at the topknot-wearing one. In a display of capable skill the bearded man used one of his own knives to simply slash apart the larger weapon thrown at him, an application of wind chakra Nanami knew well, it was something Chiyuki was good at.

Then that massive, ridiculous scythe was in the air, whirling about with surprising ease. It seemed to strike the bearded man, but he didn't appear seriously hurt thereafter, but then the immortal bastard licked his blade of all things.

Heat and ash suddenly covered everything, as powerful jutsu was used. Nanami's angle to the blast was bad, but she figured it had to come from the bearded man, since she could see the other three were not moving. It was certainly a powerful technique though, perhaps enough to melt the immortal Akatsuki down. Nanami hoped so.

The blasted cleared, and the result made no sense, something happening with far too much frequency in this battle. The bearded man was burned, while the Akatsuki had changed into something skeletal and hideous, as if his bones had become visible through the skin. How had that happened?

There was no more time to consider it, for the bearded man charged, even as the immortal stood in some kind of symbol on the ground, one Nanami wished she could see, that information could be useful to Genjiro.

With a move that seemed slow, almost casual from the perspective of the distant watcher, the Akatsuki took a long metal spike and with deliberate ease drove it down into his own leg.

Nanami blinked, and her eyes narrowed, had such a thing actually just happened? Her eyes were not lying, it had, and the man seemed essentially unharmed, yet, strangely, the bearded man had fallen. There was no way a ninja of his obvious ability would trip, and it could be seen that blood flowed from the left leg, the same as where the immortal one had stabbed himself.

Everything paused on the battlefield, and Nanami had a dark feeling creep up the back of her skull as to what was going on, but she didn't want to accept it, considering the hideousness of such a thing. She would not be given the choice to deny, for the skeletal Akatsuki raised his spearpoint to his chest, right over the heart, his intention and method utterly clear. Nanami held back a sigh as she waited for the blow to fall, considering only that she hoped never to perish in such a way.

Yet the blow the sniper expected did not come, for the skeletal figure held steady and unmoving.

This was illogical, so there must be a justsu behind it, indeed, something similar had happened at the beginning of the battle, when the initial attack had landed. One of the Leaf ninja must have some kind of jutsu to immobilize an opponent, Nanami deduced. Glancing at the trio standing apart she could see the seal held by the topknot-wearing man, so it must be him. Still, Nanami didn't think anything had changed. Time favored the immortal, and when the Leaf ninja ran out of strength to hold his foe it would end.

As Nanami was watching the Leaf ninja, she saw him stand and move, and then could see the Akatsuki do the same thing, a fortuitous glimpse to recognize the true nature of the confining jutsu, a power to force another to mirror your own motions. This set off a small bell in her head, recalling old lessons, Captain Saito's tales of things learned during the war. There was a clan of the Leaf that had a power like this, a name she could not recall, but it was a deadly ability, working through…for a long moment it escaped her memory, then, as ever so slowly the Akatsuki moved to the left, away from his symbol on the ground, the words of her captain came back, and the vehicle of this impressive binding was revealed. Shadows, Nanami said the word silently. A technique that works through shadows, and therefore, is useless on moonless nights, that was the lesson she had been taught, a specific ambush the Raikage had used.

Then the Akatsuki was outside the circle. Nanami watched with clear eyes as a shuriken ripped through the man's earlobe, and regretted that at such a distance she would not be able to tell as the Leaf had whether or not the strange link was broken. Still, she knew subsequent actions would bear it out.

The Akatsuki's head flying off a moment later was more than enough confirmation. Nanami felt a brief surge of hope; hope that these Leaf ninja had found a way to win this battle. They weren't her allies, but nevertheless she could not for a moment wish for these hideous Akatsuki to win. That thing, she thought of the immortal one, should not exist. Genjiro's promised aid could not arrive soon enough in Nanami's mind.

Hope did not last long for the watcher, as she saw Kakuzu move at last, bypassing the Leaf ninja to pick up the immortals severed head, and then, in an action to leave Nanami completely stunned, simply place it back atop the headless body. It was too much to take in while remaining motionless, and for a moment Nanami committed the failure of closing her eyes before the foe, but she absolutely had to clear her head, she could not accept this otherwise.

The sniper's eyes snapped open in time to witness yet another shocking sight. The two leaf ninja who had stood aside for a time now charged Kakuzu with a combination attack of jutsu and massive weapon. Now she had to watch, to see what Pillage could actually do.

Normally witnessing a man's hands detach from his arms and grasp the throats of other while dangling on long dark chords would have been a great shock, but in the irrational context of this battle it did not seem important at all, simply another occurrence. The battle certainly went on without it, as the bearded man faced the immortal and was struck down to the ground. A moment later Nanami saw scythe and spearpoint pass through the formerly-headless foe's chest.

Sound broke in Nanami's observation with a start. A single tap of static passed over her radio, followed by two in rapid succession. It was a clear message for one of the Shinobi-Ite, Chiyuki, designated as number one, asked to take a shot.

Nanami understood her sister's request. She was in a position a ninety-degree arc away from Chiyuki. Kakuzu had presented his back to her sister, and his hands were occupied. There would be absolutely nothing he could do to prevent his destruction, and the immortal Akatsuki member was not facing her either. It was an almost impossibly good chance.

It was a snap decision, and Nanami was solely tempted, but the cold reason pounded into her by the endless days of training won the tiny struggle. They could not engage, orders forbid it, and so did operating procedure. If these Leaf ninja must die to preserve the security of the Shinobi-Ite, then die they must. She replied with two slow taps to identify herself, and then spoke a single word into the headset. "Negative," a whisper, and with it the death knell of the four leaf ninja rang out in Nanami's mind.

Sniper blood ran cold, and though guilt assailed her, there was no regret. The decision was not worth questioning, and the lives of ninja of another village were not worth saving. This was the only calculus the Shinobi-Ite could allow themselves to understand, there was no room for any feelings of mercy or hesitation in their world.

The topknot-wearing ninja suddenly charged, only to be thrown back by the body of his own comrade, and it looked grim indeed from the watchers' perspective.

"Incoming!" Shiori's voice crackled over the radio. "SPL, SE, NC." The coded acronyms fell through the void of radio contact, interpreted easily by Nanami. Standard platoon of Leaf ninja, meaning four, from the south-east, and Shiori's own hidden position was not compromised.

It was no wonder the Leaf ninja did not see Shiori, for they must have been moving at maximum speed, as the clearing outside the bounty office burst into a mass of black birds only moments after the message was received.

There was a flurry of obscured motion Nanami could not follow easily from this distance, too much to try and observe at once, but then the field cleared, and additional Leaf ninja faced off against the pair of Akatsuki.

Now Nanami had to make a decision, for her own situation had changed. With reinforcements the odds had shifted, and there could well be more, who knows how many the leaf had sent out here if they knew the identity of their opponents. If too many converged here her team would be spotted. The risk to remaining grew with every battle. How much time did she dare wait?

The Akatsuki advanced in a hurry, and then suddenly stopped, and Nanami pushed aside her quandary to observe. The pause lengthened, and it occurred to her that perhaps these madmen had decided to retreat. She tapped the radio twice. "Three, A, T," she spoke hurriedly, commanding Chiyuki to take the Shinobi-Ite's first real action of the whole battle.

It was not seen by anyone but the three snipers, the gauzy creation of fragile paper flashing through the air to connect with the back of Kakuzu's cloak, about a foot from the bottom. The impact would not be felt, for the cloak was barely ruffled as the paper arrow's embedded seal activated and it burned almost instantly away to ash. In less than three seconds there was no sign of the delivery mechanism, and only the tiny homing transmitter remained, planted unknowingly on the distracted Akatsuki member.

Nanami was relieved when that went as planned; now she could point to something truly constructive to this battle. It was barely in time, for only moments later the pair of madmen vanished beneath concealing jutsu. It was over, for the moment. She waited ten seconds to confirm this, and then issued her sisters the code to fall back.

As she moved smoothly through the branches Nanami considered what had just happened. She had witnessed horrors and seemingly the death of a capable Leaf ninja. The Akatsuki were impressive for certain, to face two to one odds and even reinforcements without any seeming difficulty. Still, there was a cold smile on her lips as she moved, for nothing she had seen allowed her foes to counter her. Team one had remained unobserved by both sides throughout the battle, and with the exception of the immortal one, could have killed any of the combatants at any time. Masters the Akatsuki might be, but it was of a way that had no use against what they were about to face. The Leaf ninja would be the last one, Nanami suspected, the immortal fool would soon face his own tragedy, and losing a head would seem positively joyous then.


	8. Incident 7 Operation Interrupt

**Incident Seven – Operation: Interrupt**

**Fire Country – Remote Barrens**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**Immediately Following Manga Chapter 229**

"How close are we?" Shiori asked quietly as the trio moved through the forest.

"Close," Chiyuki, holding the homing beacon, replied. "The signal is completely consistent now, which means we're probably as close as it can get us."

"Right," they all knew the homing beacon was only really accurate to about a distance of five-hundred meters.

"Dump it then," Nanami ordered, making the decision at last. "I want a third pair of eyes scanning here."

Chiyuki nodded, and replaced the homing beacon with her binoculars, her pair identical to those being used by her sisters.

They advanced in a rough triangle, bows in one hand, binoculars in the other, scanning everywhere while keeping their own motions as unobtrusive as possible. It was a tense process this tracking, the most dangerous part of their jobs. If their enemy evaded their probing and remained concealed they could be ambushed, or forced into a running battle, neither a situation that favored the Shinobi-Ite, and certainly not against these enemies. Nanami had made it clear once they started to get close, if their enemy ever became aware of them they would immediately flee at full speed along one of several contingencies; she wouldn't risk even a moment's combat. As snipers they were confident, but they were not their sister Yadome.

The terrain was not helping very much, or the rain, both of which limited visibility. Nanami was unfamiliar with their location, only that they were somewhere northwest of Konoha, in an area of rough hills, mostly forested territory that appeared sparsely inhabited. It wasn't easy terrain to cross, being filled with scraggly woods and the remains of old failed farming attempts. She couldn't understand why the Akatsuki members had passed this way, unless they were trying to evade pursuit from Konoha, but that did not make much sense, for in terrain such as this surely the Leaf ninja would have the advantage in tracking.

Chiyuki had suggested that the pair might simply have gone to ground here to hide out for a while. Nanami had agreed to that possibility as a working option, having no better considerations, but she still didn't like it. Her orders, confirmed again after the battle outside the bounty office, were to follow and observe. It was a stressful task, especially as all the sniper's convictions burned to blast the immortal creature to shreds. She did her best to push such distractions away, but it wasn't easy.

"Sister," Shiori tapped Nanami on the elbow. "There's a gully slightly southwest, one I can't see into from here."

Nanami paused, and took a look. Indeed, she could only see the gap in the ground caused by the depression, and a few tall trees reaching up over the sides. Otherwise there was no way to see in. Tracing the contours of the ground it rapidly became clear that one could only see in from the edge itself, or from the southeast face of the gully. The other three sides were obscured. "That could be it," she whispered. If she was attempting to hide, she's pick such a place, where you could only be seen from one approach. "We'll circle around and look. Shiori, take point, we'll cover your back."

"Right," her younger sister nodded.

They moved off through the trees, Shiori slowly separating till she was about fifty meters ahead, that way Chiyuki and Nanami could remain shielded from any eyes inside the gully and be ready to strike down anyone who came out to attack their sister.

It was a hard moment for Nanami as Shiori strode forward to an angle where she could see. Her sister was camouflaged well, and crept low along the ground. She would be hard to see in the rain, but it was still trying, knowing a sister was being risked at Nanami's order. Her breath had to be forced through careful exercises in order to obey.

Moments later Shiori turned the corner and raised her binoculars in a long slow scan.

There was a single short tap over the radio headset.

That was it, Nanami knew, they had found them. Still, caution was all the more necessary now.

Watching carefully as Shiori put her binoculars away and took up her bow, Nanami then signaled with her hands for Chiyuki to stay put and advanced toward her sister's position.

Getting there was an exercise in the perfect maintenance of stealth, moving without sound and without any rustle of her surroundings, a single smooth blend, unnoticeable against the background, disturbing nothing.

Nanami reached Shiori's side and took her own look into the gully.

The distance was perhaps two hundred and twenty meters; the gully itself contained a small ruin, stony remnants clearly in the shape of a long-forgotten temple. There, sitting idly in the rain, where the two targets: Kakuzu on the right, the immortal on the left. Nanami observed them sitting in the rain, their hands held together in a seal, and apparently paying no attention to anything around them. She wondered what they could possibly be doing.

"What are they doing?" Shiori asked in a voice so quiet as to be all but inaudible.

"I don't know," Nanami replied. "They must be performing some kind of jutsu, but what it is I couldn't guess." She signaled for silence with her hand. Taking another look at maximum magnification Nanami learned another important thing. When she spoke next, it was into her radio headset. "They don't have radios on. This area is remote to, so we won't be heard by any monitors, as long as we stay on the coded frequency we should be clear."

"Roger," Shiori and Chiyuki responded.

"Chiyuki," Nanami ordered. "Circle out to two hundred meters behind us in line with the gully. When you get there leave your heavy equipment and bring up two dampening blankets. This spot will be our forward position."

"Roger," Chiyuki responded.

The waiting was tense, sitting there with bows ready, and arrows notched while two incredibly dangerous men did absolutely nothing. They must have thought themselves secure from any attack, which Nanami considered would have been a reasonable supposition. Having crossed this area throughout the past day she knew how difficult it was to move in and how easy to get lost. There would have been no way to find the two men if they hadn't planted the tracking beacon. Even then it had taken them the entire rest of the day. Night would be falling soon, and she was somehow certain whatever the two Akatsuki were doing they had been at it for hours already.

When Chiyuki brought up the blankets Nanami headed pack, taking Shiori's pack along with her own, leaving only the low-light goggles. She extricated herself with all the careful stealth Chiyuki had used in approach, only daring to relax at all when she reached the secondary point. Once there Nanami quickly pulled out Team One's only long-range radio unit. Then she pointed the antenna at the top of the nearest hill and prayed a civilian repeater was located there. Her unit could piggyback on civilian frequencies through the network all the way back to Hidden Cloud, was in fact designed for that purpose, but she had to hope for a signal.

"Sierra-India One to Oscar-Charlie-Delta, do you read? Over," Nanami spoke into the microphone as loudly as she dared.

Several long silent seconds passed. Then the radio sputtered to life. "Copy Sierra-India-One, we read y--," a blast of static obscured the last word. The overall message was difficult to hear, but Nanami's heart soared to know she had gotten through. Captain Saito's voice registered from the other end.

"Copy," Nanami replied. "Sierra-India-One reports completion of Process Alpha," she related the codeword determined for tracking down the Akatsuki. "Objective is stationary and core protocol is maintained, requesting further instructions, over." Nanami told the captain all he needed. The status of the target and that they did not know of the Shinobi-Ite's presence.

"Co--," Saito returned. "Ma—tain watch. A----- hom--- beacon. Sierra-India-Four enr—te. ETA two d---, over."

"Copy," Nanami assimilated the knowledge. Yadome would be here in two days with the plan that had been promised for eliminating the immortal one. They would have to wait, if they could wait that long. "Orders acknowledged, will maintain position and check in at standard intervals," meaning once every four hours. "Sierra-India-One clear." She switched the radio off, not wanting to risk anything more, as these communications, piggybacking as they were, could be monitored by someone who had the proper skills.

With the long range radio silenced Nanami returned her attention to her headset. "Orders are to hold and not engage," she told Chiyuki and Shiori. "Support in two days." Now she had to make a decision, and it was hard. She wished she was up there with her sisters and could send one of them back, it felt cowardly to give the next set of instructions, but there was nothing to be done so she bit back her regret and spoke. "We'll run two watchers at all times, eight hours on, four off. One, you come back in four."

"Roger," her sisters replied evenly.

Surrounded by silence Nanami squatted down on the ground. She knew she should eat something and attempt to get some rest, but it was hard. How do you sleep in such close proximity to the enemy? Her instincts cried out against it. It was one thing to train for this kind of situation, or even to perform it against non-ninja guards, waiting days for the right opportunity to strike, but it was something else again to stand within shouting distance of a man who had kept talking with his head rolling about on the ground.

Staring up through the rain at the dark sky Nanami wondered if this was the right course. She shook her head. It was not her place to question. She had her orders, and Yadome was coming. There was some comfort in that last fact. With her elder sister here the young sniper did not think she would fear anything.

"Delayed? What do you mean delayed?" Nanami couldn't keep her voice steady as she addressed her distant captain over the radiowaves.

"Delayed S---ra-India-One, circum----ces ---- pushed the arri--- of Sierra-In----Four back -- -- least two more days, over." The answer was steady, reasonable, and intensely aggravating to Nanami's frayed nerves.

Forty hours had passed of waiting, almost two full days. Three full shifts complete, and now Nanami faced anther eight hours of watchfulness, staring at the unmoving Akatsuki and struggling with the omnipresent fear of discovery. She was barely holding together, and neither were her sisters. They couldn't maintain it, the stress and the sheer exertions required of the constant stealth and little sleep were wearing them thin. She estimated they were at maybe eighty percent effective and dropping. It couldn't go on, they didn't have enough prepared food for this, and they'd already lost time in their short off periods for the need to go and filter water, which entailed greater security risk.

"Sierra-India-One requests new orders," Nanami said as carefully as she could. "Current status is not sustainable." It certainly wasn't, the young woman couldn't comprehend how the Akatsuki members were continuing to do whatever it was they were doing, but presumably they had more chakra than her team. Team one's reserves weren't weak by any means, Shiori had more chakra to draw on than Yadome, but it couldn't compare to these men.

"You must maintain," Saito rebuked her.

"Maintenance is impossible," Nanami growled back. "We can't take this," she was rapidly losing her cool and knew she had to stop, but it was so hard, it didn't even seem worth the effort now. "They could stand up at any moment, and we can't deal with it like this forever. How long can we really expect them to not move? Either order us to fall back or let me take the shot. I'm ready to make the move," indeed, she had a very complete plan ready, one the three team members had dissected from almost every possible angle for the past forty hours. They knew they could do it. "But give me the order or let us go, we can't just hold!"

There was a long angry pause of static, hissing off into the void. Nanami knew she had said too much, especially over the radio, but she somehow felt better for it. It might even be possible for her to stomach a continued order to maintain the watch for longer. Still, the shame would sink into her slowly, and not soon go away, this she knew.

"Very well," Saito's voice was unchanged in tone. "Sierra-India-One, go ahead is given, elim----- target o--. Imm------ ---get two. Then withdraw, over."

"Copy, Sierra-India-One clear," Nanami replied breathlessly. They were go! It was time for the bastards to learn just how much the game had changed.

"Two, three," Nanami spoke into the headset. "Situation change. Operation: Interrupt is green, repeat, Operation Interrupt is green. Begin on my mark. Mark!"

Shiori and Chiyuki did not respond, there was no need, everything had been worked out.

Nanami took up her bow, scanning it one final time, and crept back through the undergrowth to the forward position. Two hundred and twenty meters in front of her sat her two enemies, unmoving as before, their strange jutsu ongoing.

Chiyuki and Shiori had moved off to the left and right, forming as wide an arc of fire as the gully's structure allowed. All three remained low and fully camouflaged. They also enacted an additional mask, silently using henge to give themselves the appearance of something very different than their true identities, male Leaf ninja. It was perhaps a cruel deception, but Nanami felt no regret that any retribution would be more likely fall on the Leaf. That village was not her concern, and she would rather spare her sisters.

Nanami fingered an arrow, making sure she had the right one, carefully rehearsing her moves. There was nothing to do for her now but wait, and make absolutely certain of her aim.

Staring through her scope, counting down the seconds, Nanami knew enough time had passed. She tapped her headset mike with her tongue a single time. Two taps answered her; Chiyuki on the left and Shiori on the right were in position.

Nanami tapped a final time, the go signal.

Five, four, three, two, one.

All three Shinobi-Ite released as one.

Three arrows, each masked by jutsu to be silent and invisible, the simplest of maneuvers for ninja with their training, streaked forth. The range would have been great for a normal archer, but they were not normal archers, and a simple seal pattern added strength to each of their field bows, allowing them to use chakra to increase their range by at least a third.

Chiyuki's arrow, coming from the left, targeted the immortal, target number two. Nanami and Shiori's arrows aimed at Kakuzu.

The Akatsuki were not completely exposed. They had indeed taken precautions. Some kind of trap had lain unobserved about their resting place, and it triggered when the arrows passed over it, peeling out a scream of alarm at the presence of outsider chakra at fifty meters to the target.

This was too late. It was extreme throwing range, and against almost any traditional attack or jutsu would have been plenty, but against these bowshots there was no time to react, not at such a range.

Still, the Akatsuki managed to move.

Chiyuki's shot simply lodged in her target's heart, as expected the immortal did not even bother to dodge. Kakuzu had only time to shift his arms before the arrows struck him, but he did so, reaching out and taking both arrows in the middle of his palms. It was a worthwhile effort, reducing what would have been lethal strikes into damaging but not deadly pinpricks.

Or so he would have done, had they been normal arrows.

"Wha-" Kakuzu managed to begin speaking before the arrows did their true work. Only the barest moment after impact the power of the seals woven in the head, grain and fletching triggered, unleashing the full force of three explosion notes within each of the Akatsuki's arms.

Blasted to the ground by the force of the burst and burnt seriously by the heat of the reaction the immortal Akatsuki was nevertheless standing even as pieces of his companion continued to fall to earth around him. "What in the HELLS?" he bellowed.

"Your end, idiot!" Shiori, who had volunteered for this role and did the best male voice of the three, stood and revealed herself. Her next arrow punctuated her words.

Chiyuki's first arrow had not been explosive for a reason. Nanami did not think one would do enough damage to this immortal, especially if he had deflected the strike to a non-vital area, to knock him out of combat. Instead she would let him think they carried only two of the deadly missiles. The plan would proceed; there was a contingency for everything.

"Bastard!" the immoral stepped forward, and suddenly his massive scythe was in the air, hurtling impossibly across the distance.

Now it was Nanami's turn. She stood, and launched her own arrow, a heavy one with an armor-piercing head, not at the immortal, but at the flying weapon.

The scythe-haft shuddered as the arrow ripped through it, and slammed into the trunk of a tree behind.

Moments later arrows of flame, the product of Chiyuki's bow, slashed through the connection between the immortal and his weapon, burning it away.

Shiori's arrow slammed into the Akatsuki's chest next to the first. His torso shuddered with the impact, but otherwise nothing happened.

Now was the moment, Nanami decided as she pulled forth a third arrow from her quiver. He must think our arrows can do nothing, think that, and charge. She had seen his temper during the fight with the Leaf, she knew he would be angry, and his invulnerability would breed overconfidence, and last, in a piece of knowledge the Shinobi-Ite had come to learn through use of exploding arrows, people simply do not reason properly when covered in a fleshy mass that used to be other people.

The immortal charged toward his pinned weapon.

Chiyuki fired, Shiori fired, and then, after a carefully timed wait of two seconds, Nanami fired.

"You can't harm me!" the man bellowed as he dashed, not making any attempt to dodge at all, letting Shiori's arrow, and then Chiyuki's arrow both impact him easily. By the time he even bothered to note Nanami's arrow it was far too late.

"Happaboufuu no Jutsu!" Nanami molded all the chakra she could at once, straining to the utmost.

One arrow became dozens, then scores, as a wall of barbed points streaked toward the target, far too many to dodge, and far too late for him to turn and block.

The Akatsuki was slammed aside by the force of impact, point after point of sharp metal slamming into his body.

For a second the man began a laugh, but then the jutsu's true power took hold, and all the chakra manifested in those false arrows was unleashed as a single burst of energy.

The pieces of Kakuzu had been several inches in size, even a full foot and the back half of his skull. The pieces of the immortal Akatsuki were dust.

Nanami let out a silent sigh of relief, her long training holding back any whoop of joy or celebration, instead simply taking satisfaction in success. After a few deep breaths to let the tension fully fall away she spoke into the headset. "Operation: Interrupt complete, let's move team, we need to make an exit right now!"

"Roger!" her sisters responded, the happiness clear in their voices.

As they gathered their supplies and spirited through the forest, putting distance between them and an enemy who might very well still somehow be alive, Team One of the Shinobi-Ite held its spirit high. The first blow had been struck. They had every confidence it would not be the last, and the next would come soon.

Chapter Notes:

In this chapter the Shinobi-Ite use words for letters over the radio, the same way the police and other agencies do. Sierra-India-One therefore becomes SI1, meaning Shinobi-Ite Team One. Oscar-Charlie-Delta becomes OCD, or operations command director.

"Happaboufou" means 'Blast Storm'


	9. Incident 8 Unintended Consequences

**Incident Eight – Unexpected Consequences**

**River Country – Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Immediately Following Previous Incident**

In a moment, a brief glimmering flicker of time, everything changed. All that had been boring monotony, the proper structure of events as planned, tilted, shifted, and contorted in ways not meant to be.

It was not a thing seen or heard, but felt in the deepest core of being, as something went terribly, utterly wrong.

The great body of power, steadily building for the long and careful hours, tumbled free of the moorings holding it in place, and the whole world shook in the depths of the mind.

It felt as a great weight, slamming down upon her, impossibly strong.

Without even knowing what had happened she was forced to fight back, gathering her will and energy to push back, thrusting tremendous strength at the weight, throwing it off her with the force of will and chakra.

This was a success, but her exertion did not simply hold up the pressure, but threw it fully away. Only a moment later it came pressing back, tumbling out of control. It was obvious this could not continue, even as she forced the weight to be gone again, her chakra, already drained substantially could not sustain these massive bursts of power for long.

"What the hell happened?" she heard her leader demand over the link between them all. "Report, all of you!"

An overlapping chorus answered. "How should I know! Dammit! This is unfortunate…Yeah…" and more the comments came. She said only. "Here," and focused her mind on figuring out what indeed, had happened. It was not good, she could tell that much, and the unanticipated was all the more threatening for they were playing with forces none completely understood.

"Hidan! Kakuzu! Report you fools!" she heard his anger then, that rarest of his emotions, something he almost always controlled, it was a bad sign, but it helped guide her by presenting the knowledge that those two had indeed not answered. From that bit of knowledge it was clear what was going on, what this hideous weight was, the unbalancing that had occurred.

"There's no one to answer," she kept her voice easily steady, speaking reason into the cacophony of emotion and anger seething along the mental linkage. "We've lost two points in the form," she explained, able to feel that with her chakra in a brief moment between the life and death struggles with the mass of raging power. "Something cut them off completely and almost instantly."

Thankfully their leader was a quick thinker; she'd never have followed him otherwise. "How could that happen? Even if they were forced into battle they should have maintained the link for a time."

"Probably they're dead," she made the snap judgment based on intuition alone, but her intuition rarely failed her. "But we have bigger problems."

"Zetsu, get over there now!" he shouted the order with enough force to draw a mental wince, and she almost stumbled in her next repulsion of the ever more forceful press of energy. "I want to know what happened."

This was not the correct response she knew, or, it was a response to the less critical situation. Every time she felt the power press down on her it grew stronger, it was gathering force. "We have bigger problems," she repeated, feeling the strain in her voice this fight in the mind was forcing. "Whatever happened to those two they're no longer holding their points in the seal form. They were next to each other, everything's been disrupted. It can't hold."

"I can tell there's disruption," he returned still full of anger. "We have to stabilize it."

She had already considered this, and so her answer was immediate, even though he was sure to be angry. "We can't," she knew this utterly, it was especially obvious because the two had held points adjacent on the nine-pointed star, but even if they'd been opposite it would likely have been hopeless, there was no stable seven-point method. "There's no one we can put to hold those two points. Without them the form will inevitably collapse no matter what we try. The energy simply cannot be balanced this way," she had to pause momentarily as the force of combat robbed her of the strength to speak.

"Meaning?" he demanded, knowing the explanation was not complete.

Her own understanding was not full, none of them completely knew what they were doing, but it would clearly fall to her to explain. Sasori was dead, so now her knowledge, however partial it was, represented the most any of them possessed regarding this rite. "We took all this power from the Sanbi, and we're transferring it to the gate for absorption," she explained with gritted teeth, forcing her voice to remain controlled as it always did. "But the extraction is much faster than the absorption, so we have to hold the energy in place with the seal form, now with it broken all the energy is building momentum to burst free. At some point the broken form won't be able to contain it any longer and it will shatter completely. I don't know what'll happen then," she hated admitting lack of knowledge, but this time it did not seem so bad. "But unless you really want to find out what most of a Bijuu's power does in a backlash I suggest we avoid that particular fate."

It was probably not the best way to say it; he had never liked her sarcasm, but she was in a foul mood so he'd just have to deal with it.

"We'll lose all our work if we drop the seal!" he retorted. "Besides, what happens to the power when we release it?"

It took her only an instant to divine an answer. "It should go back to its proper receptacle, meaning the Sanbi," briefly she considered further. "That kind of surge is probably going to wake the demon, heal it, and make it angry," none of these were particularly good things. "But we can subdue it again if we must," well, maybe in their chakra drained states it wouldn't be easy, but that wasn't going to be her problem. "Look," she spoke with finality. "I'm not going to wait here for this energy to crush me down or blow me apart, so we can all let go together, or it becomes a game of hot potato. You decide." That was blatant extortion, and she expected she would pay for it later, but maybe not, if he truly understood the situation.

"Fine," his voice was emotionless, and she guessed Hidan and Kakuzu were probably better off dead at this point. "Everyone drop the seal."

Forty-six hours of work disappeared with a tremendous feeling of relief. Probably not a good thing, but she couldn't help but take some small joy in being alive. Knowing she lived still was a positive for Kurame, a very substantial positive in some ways.

The seal structure was gone, but the mental link remained, and it was soon split by hideous howling cries.

"About waking him up…" the cloy voice of Deidara spoke. "Yeah…this isn't going to be fun."

"Deal with it you two," the order was appropriately merciless. There were really no other choices.

A brief pause. "Zetsu, what the hell happened over there?" he demanded, focus changing once again.

"Worthless, not even worth eating," the inhuman part of the plant man responded.

As usual, a singularly uninformative answer, she thought. Hopefully, he could convince the more useful side of the plant ninja to speak.

"If you could, please use greater detail," he requested, a clear ploy to lure our the more refined personality.

"Well, we found Kakuzu and Hidan," the more reasonable side did indeed reply. "But well, even if I wanted to bury them I'd have some trouble. Our waterfall boy looks like he got stomped on by something the size of the Sanbi and then they tried to teach the remaining pieces to fly. As for talking head," the incident had amused them all when they learned of it. "Uh, I hope his god knows how to reverse cremation 'cause he's been reduced to cloak powder and Hidan powder all mixed together."

Everyone was silent for a long time, with only the distant rage of the Sanbi in the background. It was funny on the face of it, she knew. Death should not intimidate any of them, they were a group of brutal killers who took life whenever it suited them, and understood that death would indeed likely claim them all if the made the slightest mistake. Somehow though, this was not the same. To have one of their number die in battle with great and famous enemies as Sasori had was one thing, to have this happen, to see two reduced to ash in instants without any idea of who was responsible, was quite another.

She wondered, with quite a lot of concern, just who had the power to do something like this. It was a truly puzzling and important question.

At last the silence was broken. "Um, hate to interrupt," it was the cheeky voice of Tobi, Zetsu's little pawn. "But our big boy over here's mad, really, really mad. So maybe, could you, maybe, help us out a little?"

The response was swift. "Zetsu, help those two. I want the Sanbi in our hands securely as soon as possible. Leave a bushin to pick up the rings; you can go get them later. Hidan we'll leave to his fate for now. If he's still alive his god will have to sort him out."

Decisiveness was one of his stronger points, she recalled again. It was something at least.

There was a long silence to follow, and she wondered what he might be thinking. Even so, it was not Kurame's primary concern. The bare facts of the situation lay before her, two of their number gone, and not to be easily replaced. Tobi was a windfall not likely repeated. Others could fill the slots in the seal of course, and they all had hidden minions to tap, but true members were not so easily replaced. She felt keenly the loss of Sasori now, he had been with them for a long time, and even though he was clearly crazy, his knowledge had been invaluable. Without him, it would fall to her to deal with this. They had been attacked, and deliberately so, by an opponent who, though unknown, had clearly brought tremendous force to bear. It was the first time, and a dangerous precedent. It was too soon, they had risked too much, and had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Now everything would be more difficult. She would have to make him see that, but it would not be easy. He'd never been very easy to persuade.

"Byaku, Kisame, Itachi, Zetsu," his voice suddenly addressed the remainder of them, though he called her by the ring symbol of course, as they all did, since she had never revealed her name to the newer members and he was kind enough to keep her secret. It allowed him to use the same dodge, though she believed none of them truly knew his name. "What has just happened is completely unacceptable," of course they all should recognize that, but part of a leader's job was to restate the obvious, one of the reasons she hated leading. "We will need to punish those who dared defy us, to make the villages quake in fear at our power, or they'll dare something like this again.

"Hehe," Kisame laughed his strange shark laugh. "I like this plan. Who's the target? Konoha?"

"It would seem most likely, would it not?" Itachi commented, speaking levelly as he usually did, but she would never trust anything he said. Kisame, despite his obvious bloodlust, was far more rational than the Uchiha. "Hidan and Kakuzu did make a very open move to anger them. Attacking the Fire Temple was too much; the Leaf felt they had to retaliate. Still, punishing them will be easy; the Leaf is ruled by fools."

"Maybe," he replied. "Certainly it makes the most sense, only Konoha should have known that Hidan would have to be completely disabled, but it doesn't sit right with me. Fire is usually seen before it burns you over; this was too fast and too clean for them."

"But if not Konoha, then who?" Zetsu's benign personality asked.

She felt the need to speak up at this point. She already had her own suspicions, but she would speak more generally. "There are three major possibilities, as well as a few lesser ones. The villages are the most likely, and it must be Konoha, Iwa, or Kumo, only they have the strength and reasons for this. I must agree with Rei however, it does not seem like something Konoha would do. All signs point to them of course, but among ninja, such a thing is usually too convenient."

"And the lesser possibilities?" he demanded.

"Since the attack was on the temple, the monks might have called upon other temples for aid. It is possible that some temple has a great master we are unaware of at present," it was an unlikely possibility, but it needed to be said. Blaming events on a once-a-century fuuinjutsu prodigy was a weak explanation, but she knew enough of history to recognize that it had happened once before. "Also, Orochimaru could be responsible."

"No," he told her. "He would have taken the rings," his words were initially certain, then paused. "Unless, of course, he wished us to think it was someone else. The damn traitor."

She refrained from making a comment on how it was foolish to think those who had betrayed one cause would not betray another. It was really surprising that so far Orochimaru was the only one.

"In any case," he began speaking in the tone of orders once more. "Three great shinobi countries. We must find out quickly. Itachi, Kisame, you two are nearest the Leaf, rummage about and determine the situation there. Their security is lax, if they performed the deed it should be easy enough to find out. Zetsu, once you're done with the Sanbi go find two of our spies who you think can handle the sealing process and get them up to our beastie. I want everyone to be in one place for the next sealing, so we don't have the same problem." He terminated the link then, leaving no orders for her. She knew what that meant, it was time to go and speak with her boss.

Kurame stood up and stretched her tired muscles. It was never fun to sit in place for so long when performing the sealing, and she was bitterly hungry. She took a sip of water from her canteen, but did not bother to eat anything, only straightened her greasy and nearly ruined hair. Her appearance was a mess, but there was nothing for it, she couldn't keep him waiting.

Nominally Rei was her partner, but only just. She wouldn't stay to close to him if she could avoid it, he was too dangerous. So there was a reasonable distance to travel from the nice couch where she had seated herself for the sealing to his authoritative perch.

Making even that short distance of jumps and quick steps told Kurame just how tired she truly was. The strain of the uncompleted sealing and the strange battle she'd been forced to fight at the end had taken more of her strength than she'd truly realized. It wasn't good. She made a mental note to find time to rest soon as this discussion was done. She never worked well when exhausted.

He was waiting for her on the precipice, looking out over the incomplete city. She knew he was fascinated by that vista, but not why. Really, she knew so little about him, even though they had worked together for over a decade. Still, that was alright, she knew enough to know her place. She followed him because she must, and because it would give her what she wanted eventually. She also knew he knew that too, there were no illusions between them.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked as she reached the overlook.

"Of course I did," he replied, his voice effortless and easy as it always was. "There are things the others need not know, but must be discussed."

"You want to know who attacked Hidan and Kakuzu, don't you?" she confirmed.

"I want your opinion at least," he insisted.

"My opinion," it was a simple request. She flicked her hand through her hair easily, an alluring motion that normally drew the eyes of men. It was wasted on him and she knew it, but Kurame amused herself by practicing with him. "It's Hidden Cloud, that's my opinion, and without Konoha's knowledge too."

"Why do you say that?" she could not tell if Rei was agreeing or not. "Some might say you are biased."

Biased? She supposed she might be at that, but she was also right. She knew more of strategy and the workings of the countries than he did, than any of them. "I told you there were three real possibilities: Cloud, Leaf, and Stone." She spoke as if she was lecturing a schoolchild, an old habit, but it wouldn't bother him, very little bothered him, certainly none of her traits. "It cannot be Mist because they are too far, and the Mizukage will not attack first. He crushes those who defy him, but he does not act with preemption."

"I know that much," Rei replied. "That's why we agreed to save them for last."

"Sand is too weak," she continued as if he had not spoken. "They may have killed Sasori, but they couldn't accomplish this." This was an obvious thing, but she knew tricks to speaking to make it sound as a great revelation. "So that leaves the other three. Konoha's motives are obvious. As for the Tsuchikage, he is the great schemer; if he saw any advantage at all he might try something of this nature."

"Do you really think he would do this though?" it was a true question; his mind was not actually made up. That was rare, but Kurame could recognize it.

"No," she answered honestly. "We have not yet provoked him; it should serve him better to wait."

"So you think it's Cloud then?" his voice was low with amusement. "A bit of favoritism perhaps?"

"No!" the words tore out of Kurame, as her sophisticated veneer collapsed in an instant, her persona becoming vile and hideous. "Bastard! Like I care anything about them!" Those were all the words she loosed before the realization of what she was doing penetrated her mind. Her mouth snapped shut instantly, and she seethed in silence until she mastered herself. She absolutely hated him for that, despised him. It was a good reminder though; Rei was not her friend, just another ninja whose interests coincided with her own. That was all.

"Nevertheless, though the Cloud is filled with fools, they are not so great of fools as some. In the short-term, you might even call them cunning. Besides," and now it was her turn to provoke him. "You did wrong them. I warned you didn't I?"

"You also told me any response would be crippled by infighting, half-hearted, and ultimately useless," he ceded nothing to her, spiking her irritation again, but Kurame crushed her emotions. There was no point in becoming angry. "You were very specific when you said they could not retaliate effectively."

She had said that, it would serve the blue-haired kunoichi nothing to deny it. "I appear to have miscalculated slightly," she spoke cautiously, she absolutely hated to admit being wrong, hated it. "There are few in any village who could have defeated Hidan and Kakuzu so quickly. From Cloud such an act demands the presence of Kazumasu Togawa."

"The Forked Bolt?" Rei used the appellation the man carried, proving he had indeed heard of his exploits. "You said he would not become involved in this."

"I said he should not become involved," Kurame corrected carefully. "But it was never a certainty. I don't know the current political situation, if Togawa thought it was to his advantage he might have supported a mission for retribution or rescue. He could bring a team of their best jounin, something with enough strength that if they achieved surprise they could have accomplished what we saw. I had thought he would dispute with the Raikage over the nature of the response and the eventual compromise decision would be weak, lacking fangs. Perhaps instead the Raikage threw away his authority and ceded all the glory to Togawa. Such an act is insane, but, maybe he would do it, he always took reckless gambles."

"Hmm…" he considered this for a moment. "Well, even if it was not Cloud it must have been a team of jounin, perhaps someone led by a singular personage such as Jiraiya. They also had to track down Hidan and Kakuzu in their lair, over that maze-like land. This is a formidable foe whoever it may be. They must be eliminated before we can continue to advance our goals. Do you have suggestions?"

So he was calling on her for strategy at last. Kurame held back a slender smile. She had to give it some thought. "Your decision to call us altogether is not without its risks, but it could be turned to our advantage. A team of jounin including someone like Jiraiya or Togawa could perhaps match almost any two of us, so it will be good to be able to call upon more. We must seal the Sanbi of course, there's no getting around that, and it should be done quickly, before another blow can be struck. However, there is no urgency to seal our other prize." She sensed the opportunity here. "Especially if our foe is indeed Hidden Cloud, we may be able to masquerade the sealing and lure them in."

"A reasonable plan," he concluded. "Develop it further for me. Once we have determined our foes we shall strike them down. I won't accept any further loses."

"Very well," she told him. "I will consider it. Come and get me when you feel like leaving." She jumped down and left him staring there, not bothering to wait for a response. She needed a shower, and a meal, and intended to get both. That would improve her mood, now dour. It had been years since Orochimaru betrayed them, but now Sasori was gone, and she felt isolated. It had been the four of them at first, and now only the woman who called herself Kurame and her unknowable master remained. The rest were not predictable or truly behind the goals of the Akatsuki. Nevertheless, she refused to contemplate failure. She had not left Hidden Cloud behind so many years ago just to fail now. She would find a countermeasure, even if it was the Raikage who opposed her.

Chapter Notes:

Kurame is the blue-haired Akatsuki member, the only one otherwise unnamed, and the one who is supposedly female. Kurame means, loosely 'Dark Rain' and is not her true name, which I do not intend to reveal until very late in this piece. I dislike creating this character in such a way, but I need a face in the Akatsuki for this story. Still, the blue-haired Akatsuki member is likely, simply by process of elimination, to be from Hidden Cloud, so it's not that much of a stretch.

I have chosen not to give the Akatsuki leader a name, but will refer to him by his ring symbol 'Rei' (zero) instead. I feel this is appropriate since while the members have used each others names over the astral link, no one has used his.


	10. Incident 9 Unleashing the Storm

**Incident Nine – Unleashing the Storm**

**Lightning Country – Hidden Cloud Village**

**Ninja Governed Territory**

**One Day Later**

"So this is it then?" he wrapped his hand carefully about the thin scroll, feeling the paper and the perfect calligraphy of the seal markings. "It certainly took long enough."

"My apologies," Genjiro answered sincerely. "It was not as easy to do this as I anticipated, and my hands are old. If I were younger perhaps, but that is no longer the case."

"Such is the way of the world," the Raikage sighed. "Well, we shall adapt to the new situation." He turned to his left. "Yadome," he handed her the scroll. "This is yours now."

The sharp-eyed young lady took the scroll carefully, and she turned to Genjiro. "What must be done with this?" she asked the old monk.

Naotaka listened closely to the answer, knowing it was very important.

"It's actually quite simple," the fuuinmaster explained. "The seal will do all the work; you simply need to strike the right place." He pointed a bony finger to the base of his thin neck. "The point is here, between the collarbones, immediately above the sternum. The strike must penetrate fully so the scroll reaches down to the spine, and it must go in from the front."

"That will be a difficult shot," Yadome answered. Naotaka, looking at her, could not detect any change in her expression, but her idea of a difficult shot might as well be impossible.

"We will have to find a way for you to make it," the Raikage told them both. "Which may be rather tricky, as of the last report our most unfortunate Jashin worshipper had been hit by Nanami's blast storm and reduced to cinders. Do you have any idea how long it will take Genjiro, before he's up and about again?"

"No idea," the old monk replied. "I don't think anyone's ever done something like that before. Powerful Jashin worshippers are rare enough, thank Buddha."

"Hmm…" Naotaka considered this briefly. He had expected that sort of response, and had developed his plan accordingly. "If you do not know, doubtless his allies do not know either, and most likely his remains were left where they lay." Naotaka scanned the room taking in his few guests. "We have the instrument to eliminate this enemy present," he nodded to Yadome, who replied with an almost imperceptible movement of the head. "But we have lost any links to the others, though doubtless they will be forced to respond to this. Still, we shall have to split our efforts." He turned to Saito, locking eyes with the old ninja. "I want you to set up a forward post closer to our enemies, we've already had our hand forced by our inability to react quickly and it must not happen again. The southwest Rice Field country is probably the best location. Contact an agent in that region and set things up. We'll make sure all three teams know the situation."

"It may be difficult to keep such a base a secret," Saito cautioned. "Konoha was after Kakuzu and his partner, with so many ninja in the area we would be wasting a lot of effort to maintain secrecy."

"True," Naotaka accepted. "But I feel we must take the risks. Regardless, I will make sure Togawa's motions are bold enough to attract both the attention of Konoha and the Akatsuki, I rather expect he prefers it that way. That should draw eyes off you as necessary, and only a short time will be needed. The criminals number only nine, now seven and a half, one more thorough strike might be enough to break them, and then Konoha's objections will be meaningless."

"Understood," Saito acknowledged. "Should I get moving on that?"

"Yes," Naotaka decided. "Tell Kina to have team three help you, they are not needed as a relay anymore."

"Very good," Saito saluted, and left.

"Should I aid Captain Saito as well?" Yadome asked carefully.

"No," Naotaka responded. "For now you must focus your efforts on killing the immortal Akatsuki member. We can't leave him behind us as we move closer to the others. In fact, I think we need a way to lure him out."

"A man who has just been blown apart may seek vengeance," Yadome considered. "But anyone who survived long enough to enter the Akatsuki cannot be a complete fool."

"Exactly," he concurred with her assessment. "So we need to force his hand, override his caution." His eyes glanced about the room, focusing in on a chair in the corner. "I think I know how to do it."

Genjiro had been following the conversation, and now he followed the Raikage's eyes back behind him to the figure of his granddaughter Tsune, seated in a corner, quietly avoiding interruptions. "No!" the old monk spoke with great force. "You can't mean to…"

"I can indeed," Naotaka cut him off. "A very special kind of bait will be needed for this madman, but it is something we have at hand, and besides, it is not your choice to make." He turned his head fully to Tsune, who, not imperceptive, had quickly recognized what was being discussed. "Tsune," the Raikage spoke sternly. "Will you go out with my Shinobi-Ite, to help draw out this foe of ours so Yadome can use your grandfather's seal to eliminate him forever?"

"You don't have to agree!" Genjiro hissed. "He cannot demand combat from us, don't go granddaughter!"

Genjiro was quite correct, the Raikage could demand many things of the temple clergy, but not combat, not unless war was upon the country, which it was not. The Raikage did not speak again; instead he let Genjiro's words hang and focused his eyes on the young woman.

Tsune met those eyes, and then, unexpectedly, turned away from them, and looked toward Yadome. Then she stood. "I will go," she said firmly, leaving her grandfather sputtering. "If I am to be your successor, grandfather, if I am to carry on your vision, then I must be ready." Tsune spoke with a conviction none had expected. "Our world is changing, and whether we like it or not we must move with this change. Whether it is right or wrong I do not know, but I believe it is the Buddha's wish that I learn this for myself. I will go."

"Your assistance is much appreciated Ama Tsune," Naotaka nodded his head to her. "I shall leave you in Yadome's care. Gather your things and head out when you are ready. Team One shall work with you in this effort, make certain it succeeds."

"Yes sir," Yadome spoke for them both.

The pair of young women left, leaving Naotaka alone to face the wrath-filled face of the old monk. "I wonder, Raikage, is there anything you are not prepared to sacrifice for your precious victory? Anything at all you still hold sacred?"

Had Genjiro shouted at him, screamed abuse, or even heaped upon hideous curses it would not have had half the impact of those two cruel questions. Naotaka did not know how to respond, and sat silent, unmoving, for a time. Was there nothing he would not sacrifice? He did not know. Saito was his friend, the Shinobi-Ite the closest thing he had to a family, and he had long since tossed away respect, and many other trappings of his office. Only at length could he find the answer he sought for Genjiro's question. "For the Cloud, I will sacrifice all but the Cloud; for victory, nothing."

"It seems that the highest clouds are indeed made of ice," the old monk spoke slowly. "I hope that is as it was meant to be." Without further word the old man slowly shuffled out.

Yadome looked at the young woman beside her from the corner of her eye, measuring all aspects available to vision. She could discern much, patters of motion, rate of breathing, many small details adding up to a surprisingly complete picture of a person. This was part of her gift, the integration of many observations into a complete picture, giving her staggering visual awareness, awareness absolutely necessary for her skills. Nevertheless, all the physical information was startlingly uninformative in other ways. The pale sniper could not see into minds this way, could not read emotions.

Tsune was a mystery to the sniper. The nun was younger than her by several years, but it seemed she had ironclad convictions, a raw, almost visceral assurance of her way. Yadome had felt it when she made her decision in the Raikage's office, the burning flame of that resolve. It was something she felt echoes of in herself, something her sisters had told her she carried. "You are more intense than the rest of us, sister," Kina had told her. "We can carry on these changes, but you are the one who shatters barriers."

It had never been easy to think about such things, the idea of bearing some inner drive most others did not have, but it was something Yadome had seen repeatedly ever since Kina speared her with those powerful words. Commander Kato, Master Togawa, and now this nun, all shared something, strength of purpose perhaps, or maybe a sense of destiny. Whatever the truth, Yadome considered it important, and it had surprised her in Tsune. Most of the temple and shrine people she had met had a certain distant feel, distracted, focused on things beyond the world, but Genjiro's granddaughter was different. The sniper wondered if the old fuuinmaster had once been like this.

"What do we do now?" Tsune asked as they exited headquarters.

Yadome considered for a moment. Nanami's team one was already in the Fire country. It would be a journey of several days to reach them, but she had no idea how much speed would be needed, or how fast Tsune could travel. Still, when in doubt, she would make what haste she could. "We should get moving. Plans can be made on the road," she had never been very talkative, and was unused to running a conversation. "We will go to the temple so you can get whatever you need."

"What about your gear?" Tsune asked her in return, for Yadome wore only simple clothes carry no obvious ninja equipment, as the Shinobi-Ite's existence was still being concealed from most of the village.

"We'll pass through our encampment on the way out," the sniper decided. "You can be trusted with its location now."

Tsune nodded, and they headed on. Yadome had to moderate her pace to keep from running far ahead of the nun. They were of a height, but her stride was longer, able to eat up ground. Tsune walked with the patient meter of the clergy, but at least her motion was efficient, she would not tire easily.

The visit to the temple was quick, taking only perhaps fifteen minutes. Yadome raised her estimation of her companion's intelligence when she reappeared with a small satchel filled with serviceable travel gear so quickly. She carried nothing obvious or ostentatious save her shakoju, the seven-ring staff commonly carried by monks. Yadome's sharp eyes noticed seals marked on the length of that staff, and she recognized immediately that it was not simply a symbol. In the hands of one with training in fuuinjutsu, it was a powerful weapon.

"You have everything?" Yadome asked.

"Yes, let's go," Tsune answered.

"Very well," Yadome saw Tsune clasp her hands together in the briefest of prayers before turning to follow her, and then the pair was off. An unusual pairing, a sniper whose purpose was to kill, and a nun who purpose was to heal, yet close in age and close in build, and with one singular wrong to correct.

Chapter Notes:


	11. Incident 10 Subtle?

**Incident Ten – Subtle?**

**Fire Country – Bounty Office Southeast of Konoha**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**Concurrent With Incident Nine**

"So, you're sure he's here? Togawa asked his teammates.

"Of course I'm certain," Enmiura Sadakaze's voice was its usual languid, unconcerned self. "I didn't get every last secret from our thoroughly lost informants for nothing." He was playing up his own contribution, since it had been his trick to get those men absolutely lost even while they never left town, but that was just the way Sadakaze was, effete and casually arrogant.

"So what's the plan then?" Sandan Aomori demanded.

"You and your plans," Yilosi Miya laughed slyly. "It's a bounty office, there's a bunch of second rate thugs and maybe a couple of samurai as guards. We're four jounin; do we really need a plan?"

"Technically, we do," Togawa interjected, not wanting to let them quibble too much. If he did they'd be stuck here for hours. Such was the nature of the team he'd assembled. The Raikage's announcement that his team was to hunt down the killers of Yugito's team had produced some interesting candidates. Most of the jounin had wanted nothing to do with the job of course; the jinchuuriki had possessed a scant few friends. Add to that the simple fact of the Akatsuki, who all the jounin had enough clearance to know existed and could deduce were the probable targets and it hadn't been that many takers.

"But, complexity isn't needed here," he determined. "Sadakaze, give us a barrier, I go in from the east door, Miya from the west, Aomori, you immobilize anyone from another angle. Make sure our boy doesn't die, understand. If we have trouble, we fall back and regroup north of the building. That's the plan." It was simple and forceful, the kind of plan he preferred, and it gave each ninja the freedom to improvise with their personal skills. He didn't need the Raikage's bag of tricks today.

Aomori looked somewhat downcast; he was a big believer in cunning plans, the Raikage's man through and through, perhaps moreso than any other active jounin. The young man, and he was only twenty-two, had volunteered more out of a chance to show of his specialized new tricks, the products of various innovation initiatives over the past decade, than anything else. He was far from Togawa's first choice, but he'd had to take what he could get. With his rank and status the veteran jounin could have simply drafted ninja to join his team, or he could have called in favors he was owed, but he hadn't. There had been two reasons. The first was that he would be deceiving the team as to his mission's true purpose, and the second was that he wasn't about to anger anyone for the Raikage's sake. Naotaka was a fine battle commander, none better in Togawa's mind, but that didn't mean he had any more right to hold the office of Kage than Togawa did.

"How much time?" Miya asked. "Thirty seconds?"

"Fine, go for it," Togawa ordered, watching Miya sprint off to the side. She had been a surprise when she volunteered, at least until the jounin had read up on her. The Yilosi clan was proud and insular, and Miya was one of its best, she would be matriarch of the clan in another twenty years or so, and had no business taking her spear on this kind of hunt. No reason except her own anyway.

The same was true of Enmiura Sadakaze, the ninja was from a proud clan, one Togawa had good relations with, but his reasons for coming were deeply personal. He and Miya were taking a gamble, but Togawa suspected the odds were good they would find what they sought. He'd taken them on knowing this; the two would work harder and complain less with such a motive. Still, he hoped the encounter they wished never happened. Let the Raikage's deadly little dolls take care of it.

Thirty seconds came. "Let's go," Togawa ordered.

He stood up from his outdoor restaurant seat, and calmly dropped the henge disguise. "Everybody down! Ninja raid!" the jounin's voice boomed across the square and with a twitch of his facial muscles he made his mask unleash a flash of light to punctuate it.

The people weren't stupid. They hit the deck and started crawling for shelter. This was promising; Togawa hated working with unnecessary instructions. He surged forward. Aomori followed his steps, kunai in hand, ready to throw.

Behind them Sadakaze was already at work. He flipped open a narrow paper fan, its surface drawn with artful symbols, and began his jutsu, a combination of seals and motion in the air. The fan snapped forward, perfectly parallel to the concrete beneath, and a gray mass began to crawl forward from behind the jounin.

"Enmuhei," Sadakaze's slick voice seemed to caress the words as his tendrils coalesced behind the charging jounin and formed a massive ring about the bounty office. This wall of fog might lack substance, but it carried in its misty coils channels of chakra bearing paralyzing terror to stop even the bravest in their tracks, and send the weak-willed into soft oblivion till it dissipated.

Togawa did not see the bounty office door as a barrier, instead, in his mind it was a weapon, one who the fools behind it thought protected them. The door was mostly wood, but reinforced with metal, and in his mind perfect.

As he hit the door the jounin master brought his pudao sword down to scrape against along one of the iron reinforcements. "Shizuruheijin," his voice crackled with his amusement as the current blasted down the length of the blade, into the iron bars, and then to the wood between them. That wood screamed as power forced its way in, and then, as energy met moisture lodged deep in the old timbers, let loose its agony.

The door exploded inward in a whirlwind of jagged wood shards, and Togawa stepped through over the bodies of three thugs who had foolishly stood too close.

Through the blue-lightning vision of his mask he saw more men in the hallway, holding weapons in trembling hands. He laughed again, deliberately, and then stepped forward. Spinning around a poorly executed attack with trivial ease the curved edge of Togawa's pudao sword ripped a hideous red gash across the man's back. As this enemy dropped the sword flicked out and spat blood onto the others as the man with crackling eyes advanced mercilessly.

His enemies carried an assortment of weapons, clubs, swords, axes, and polearms of all make and misfit. Togawa danced through them with his curved blade, flipping it from forward to back as he willed, striking aside all attacks with minimal effort and then landing carefully brutal counters. Most of these thugs could not have been half the cloud ninja's age, but none had any power to stand before him.

In less than a minute it was no longer a fight, but a bunch of men trying to escape something they did not possess nearly enough courage to face. Togawa didn't exercise mercy, but waded through them cutting down anyone who still held a weapon with precision strokes, his sword was slick with blood, but he did not mind. Quickly he turned and moved up the stairs. "Report Aomori!" he demanded over his headset.

"We've had a few escape attempts," Aomori returned. "But they've all ended up on the dart path out. No problems."

"Good, carry on," Togawa headed up the narrow steps. This bounty office was stationed above an insurance office, and the stairway was the only constriction where the overpowered defenders might try to make a stand.

A pair of blades slashed down from above as Togawa advanced. Spinning back he blocked the strikes easily, and found his opponent to be a tall man with long arms. This one was a skilled swordsman; it took only a short exchange to realize that. Togawa defended successive attacks easily enough, but he could not strike back given the man's height advantage and his longer reach. Katana and wakazashi struck against curving blade repeatedly, and they were stuck. Togawa found this irritating, he could blow the man away with a jutsu of course, but that could cause additional damage upstairs, and besides, it offended his professional pride to do such a thing against a non-ninja opponent.

Instead the master ninja simply waited, ready to act when the situation changed; it would only be a few seconds for certain.

As Togawa brought his blade around for a block low a long metal barb shot past his right shoulder to lodge in the swordman's unprotected gut. The man gurgled for a moment, his eyes filled with surprise as he caught the spear-wielding Miya stepping out from the mask of Togawa's shadow.

In the next instant Togawa cut his head clear of the body, kicking the corpse away and sprinting the rest of the distance up the stairs.

"Lazy," Miya called from behind him.

"Not lazy, calculated," Togawa answered as he burst into the upstairs room with great speed. A group of bounty officers, holding short swords and knives in their inexperienced hands stood huddled in a circle, about to do something Togawa had expected and could not allow.

A precise movement of facial muscles and chakra and a blinding burst of light slammed out from his mask. Togawa, not in the least hindered, jumped across the room, slamming men aside with the wide flat of his blade and reaching the one in the center of the circle. He grabbed the man by the collar and hurled him back toward Miya. "He's the one we want," he shouted as everyone gradually regained their sight. "Couldn't let these fools silence our source now could we."

"You bastard!" one of the bounty men hissed, and tried to stab Togawa. The jounin sidestepped effortlessly and hacked the man's arm off at the shoulder.

He spoke over the screaming that followed. "I hope no one else tries anything stupid," He gestured with his blade. "Drop the weapons to the floor and put your hands above your heads. Oh," he addressed the wounded man. "Shut your mouth!"

The screaming reduced to gibbering terror.

"Better," Togawa muttered.

"Are we sticking around boss?" Miya called to him, gripping their terrified prize roughly in her left hand, the point of her spear casually against his back.

"Just for a moment," Togawa answered, and with deliberate slowness he scanned his crackling orbs over each of these bounty men. He felt contempt for these fools, who thought to play ninja against each other and common criminals for nothing more than a bit of money. He'd never liked working with them or posting bounties on behalf of Cloud. It was such a weakling way. "Your lives are meaningless to me scum," Togawa's voice held the sharp edge of a storm about to unleash its full fury. "So, you'd better convince me real good when it comes to not killing you. There's only one thing I want to know: the men in the red-cloud cloaks. Where are they?"

There was a great deal of stammering, protesting, and denial for a moment. Then Togawa kicked out and slammed one of the lower ranked merchants into a wall with an audible crack. "I told you not to waste my time," he barked.

Silence ensued. Togawa's eyes burned. At last, one man, looking utterly terrified, managed to stammer. "Well…honorable sir…I-I-I heard somebody cashed a big bounty over in Grass country. Th-they say he wore a cloak like you mentioned."

"Who was the bounty?" Togawa demanded.

"So-someone from Waterfall," at Togawa's hissing gaze he begged. "It's all I know, I swear, I didn't catch the name."

"Hmm…anything else, anyone?" Togawa's gaze burned over them once more.

"N-n-no sir," one man, this one clearly the owner of this place, managed. "We've heard nothing else, except from the Fire country, but you've already got him."

"So I do," Togawa smirked behind his mask. He turned abruptly. "Miya, let's go."

"Right boss," the kunoichi smiled a fierce smile. "See you boys again sometime."

They were out of the building in moments.

"Aomori, Sadakaze," Togawa ordered. "We're done, let's move."

"Wait," Aomori was a bit confused. "Shouldn't we destroy the evidence?"

"You just want an excuse to blow it up don't you," Sadakaze laughed, swirling his fan closed.

"Well, maybe," Aomori chuckled; everyone knew the man had something of a fetish for explosions. "But it was a serious question."

"No, we leave it," none of them had stopped running off as the conversation took place, and now they jumped from rooftop to rooftop on their way out of the town. "Searching for the Akatsuki is only half the plan," Togawa explained. "Letting them know we're coming is the other half. It'll make them move in response. We need to leave them alive so the message isn't so subtle it's missed."

"Subtle?" Sadakaze laughed again. "Master Togawa you have a very loose idea of subtlety."

"I'll all about reputation my dear Sadakaze," Togawa answered with a crackling laugh. "All about reputation."

The jounin laughed together as they left the town behind them.

"So, now what do we do with our boy here?" Miya asked, dumping the bounty man into a heap onto the ground. Mercifully for him the poor bounty officer had fainted sometime early into the relocation.

"We have some questions for him," Togawa explained to the others, knowing that he would now have to reveal additional information to his team. Well, it didn't matter; their little act of carnage earlier in the morning bound them together in the mission now. "This man worked in a bounty office to the northwest of Konoha, an office where not more than a few days ago two of our Akatsuki friends brought in a rather high priced bounty. Apparently it was someone Konoha cared about, because the pair got into a fight with some Leaf ninja there. It seems one of the Leaf ninja was killed and both Akatsuki boys got away. One of them was Kakuzu."

"Pillage huh?" Miya remarked. "I've heard about that one, not good stuff."

"So," Sadakaze reasoned. "This man, not being a complete fool, knew someone would investigate and tried to hide himself in a different bounty office, but one of our agents got wind of it."

"I'm sure the Leaf did as well," Aomori noted. "Why didn't they get here first? Maybe they got distracted by losing on of their own?"

"Perhaps," privately Togawa thought such a thing typical of the Leaf, typically short-sighted and sentimental, but it was a windfall for his team, so he wasn't about to complain. "Anyway, let's see what this fool can tell us. I want to know just who the Akatsuki members were, who they turned in, where they came from, and where they went, and anything else that might be useful."

"I suppose this become my task then," Sadakaze murmured with distaste. "Ah, well, we must use the skills we possess."

"If you could," Togawa suggested. "Otherwise we can do this the old fashioned way."

"Bah," Sadakaze flicked his fan open. "That's even cruder, and if you think I can't handle one such as this I fear I must take offense."

"I have every confidence that you can," Togawa replied, knowing better than to press Sadakaze's sensibilities. "I was just making a remark."

"Very well," the slim jounin moved languidly over to the fallen bounty office, carefully kneeling with his robes positioned properly beneath him. He passed his fan through the air above the man several times, making seals with his left hand as he did so, and chanting along. After a moment's time a cold gray fog began to swirl about the two men, growing thicker and thicker with each pass of the fan, soon all was obscured about the two.

This was Hakadatsu Muchuu, a powerful genjutsu capable of stealing away every last one of the senses. Sight, hearing, smell, touch, even the sense of taste, all would be coated by a fog that offer no return. Submerged in that mist the mind would unhinge and latch onto anything it could sense, any signal at all, and spill even the deepest of secrets. In time, Sadakaze began to speak, asking questions in a smooth, comforting voice, becoming an instant friend, the only friend.

Many people who came out of Hakadatsu Muchuu believed they were hearing the voice of the gods in the afterlife when they were spoken to in this way, and it often took a great deal of effort to disabuse someone of the notion that they had not briefly been dead. Sometimes, like with this man, they wouldn't even bother, it could become a useful fiction.

Time passed, the other three jounin waited in quiet patience, not making sound or interrupting, taking no chances. Instead they maintained a simple vigilance about their position, in case someone came looking for them, as unlikely as that might be.

Finally the fog slowly dissipated, revealing Sadakaze once more, and the bounty officer. The unlucky bounty officer slept on, the fan-wielding jounin no doubt ending his primary genjutsu with a simple one designed to induce sleep.

"Well," Togawa asked. "What did you learn?"

"Not as much as I might have liked," Sadakaze responded with a flick of his fan. "He truly did not know that much. The pair of Akatsuki was Kakuzu and a man named Hidan. Their bounty was Chiruku, abbot of the Temple of Fire, which the Akatsuki have apparently razed."

"Really?" Miya interjected. "Damn," she added when Sadakaze nodded. "That's a big time move, no wonder the Leaf went after them."

"It certainly helps explain the high level of activity we saw coming out here," Togawa noted, not that the four jounin had suffered any real difficulty sneaking through the Fire country. "What else?"

"Unfortunately not too much," Sadakaze shrugged. "He's had dealings with these guys before, or at least Kakuzu, apparently Pillage is a real money-grubber. I went through a bunch of incidents. It seems likely from where Akatsuki bounties have come in the group's base is west of the Fire country somewhere, but not as far as Sand of Stone."

"Hmm…not great, but that's something," Togawa decided. "Alright, we'll head west then, leave this wretch and get moving."

"Yes sir," the other three jounin replied, and the group headed out, with a slim lead before them and a tantalizing mess behind them.

Chapter Notes:

'Enmuhei' means 'Fog Wall'

'Hakadatsu Muchuu' means 'Deprivation Trance'


	12. Incident 11 PreManeuver

**Incident Eleven – Pre-Maneuver**

**Rice Field Country – 6 Kilometers from Fire/Water Corner**

**Bandit Controlled Territory**

**Three Days Later**

Kina's left hand ran through her hair slowly, up and down, and then repeated the motion, again and again, as she stared at the map. It was not a nervous motion; no, all such things had been beaten out of the Shinobi-Ite with great diligence by Captain Saito if the brothel masters hadn't done it first. This was something Kina did only when deep in thought, on the cusp of something important. She had learned to do it back in the brothel, where everyone had said she had pretty hair, even as an eight-year old. It was a tactic to draw attention to it, a pretension to nervousness even though the action was fully under her control.

Long, pale gold, and shimmering, Kina had beautiful hair, it was something obvious enough she always had to wear a bandana to bind it up when walking about the cloud village to prevent people from recognizing her. Kina found it amusing, since her hair color wasn't real, it was dyed. Only her sisters knew, and they didn't think about it, Kina had been dying her hair for over ten years, always the same way. It was something central to her, a constant reminder of the ever-present and all-important power of deception.

There were a number of lines on the map, all relaying various information. The most important ones were drawn in red, indicating clues to the elusive location of the Akatsuki base. First the four countries of Waterfall, Grass, Rain, and Rivers were encircled. It must be somewhere there, they were sure. Small circles indicated reports of clear areas from Hidden Cloud agents, noting locations where the base could not be. Additional marks, and these were the most important, traced actual sightings of the Akatsuki or operations known to be connected to them. The picture was substantial, but tremendously incomplete.

"Any ideas Kina?" Captain Saito asked her.

"Well…" she began, but said no more, her way of indicating that she wanted to think about it a bit. Her eyes flickered from sighting to sighting, trying to see what could be seen. "Doesn't Commander Kato have a copy of this map?"

"He does," Saito told her. "After all, we set up a secure radio frequency and everything's being broadcast back and forth. There are only those two copies of course." Kina understood that logic perfectly, even two represented a security risk, but since they couldn't be in two places at once, it was a necessity.

"What does he think?" Kina asked her captain. She didn't trust her ideas, and didn't want to make any suggestions that would be wrong.

"I expected you to ask that," Saito told her. "Come now Kina, why do you think I put you in charge of assembling this data?"

"Because I'm the team leader," Kina answered without taking her eyes of the map. It wasn't the right answer, she thought, but it was the one she gave, the proper answer.

"Arisa's a team leader too," Saito smiled softly, his wrinkled face patient, for now. "But I put her in charge of setting up the camp, and saved this task for you. Now, give me the answer."

"Because you think I'm the better artist?" she joked, though only half-so. "No," Kina answered seriously. "You want me to be the strategist."

"Well," Saito said. "I'm not sure it's quite like that. What I want is to use that careful trapping mind of yours. It's well suited to this, not to simple logistics. That's much more Arisa's strength."

"Right," Kina wasn't sure she believed that. She wasn't blind, she knew her captain should have long ago been retired; indeed, he really never should have been made their teacher. The bags under his eyes and the tight way he moved made it obvious just how much this journey had wearied him. It wasn't hard for the young woman to get a glimmer of what was going to happen. This was the first official operation of the Shinobi-Ite, and Captain Saito would lead it, but once the operation was done and the squad revealed to the whole village, it would have to have a leader from its own ranks. So, they were testing people out. Still, it didn't seem necessary to Kina, since surely Yadome would lead them. She didn't mind, Kina knew her sister was the best, and wished her all she deserved. For now team three's leader wondered if this was simply an exercise to see who would back Yadome up, or replace her if some hideous calamity ever made that necessary.

"Anyway Kina," Saito told her. "I want to know what you think, and we'll compare that to the Raikage's analysis."

"Fine, fine," Kina continued to examine the map. She traced her hand on a long line and several circles, all linked together. "Gaara…that's the key. They took him; everyone knows that, Diedara tried to bomb out the whole Sand village." Her finger rested on the Sand village. "But," and her hand moved. "They were pursued. Details are sketchy." Now Kina put her palm down on a large area encompassing portions of the Sand, Rain, and Rivers countries. "Large explosions here and Leaf ninja sighted in this area, all as our investigators reported. Also, almost the entirety of Hidden Sand was spotted at a point in the northeast of the desert, with Gaara and a group of Leaf ninja. Based on that the Akatsuki must have been operating somewhere in the Rivers country."

"Must have been?" Saito raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously they would have moved their operation after being detected by so many from Konoha and Suna," Kina shrugged. "The question is, where did they move to?" Her hand walked over the map. "It can not be too far, there's been too much activity for them to have relocated a vast distance. I doubt they went so far north as Grass country, it's too open," Kina had become caught up in her analysis now, even as her left hand continued its slow passages through her hair. "That leaves Rain and Rivers, but it's a big area. I would have gone to Rain, if it was me, the forests there would hide you, and it wouldn't be hard to avoid patrols from the villages and buy of local people to not notice you."

"But you don't think it's that," Saito prodded.

"No," Kina answered. "You have to know your enemy. I'm a sniper, we prioritize stealth above all, but these Akatsuki, they seem to care little for it. They move about openly, wearing an outfit that serves as instant identification, they dare their enemies to challenge them. They only seek to preserve a minimum of secrecy, enough they think will buy them time to react, just as those two, Kakuzu, and Togawa's report said it was Hidan, yes, did." Kina's hand moved over the map. "They would move not away from their enemy, but toward them, bringing them closer into contact, seeking to inspire fear."

"So where would that take them?" Saito wondered, and Kina did not even notice now that he was smiling.

"I don't know," she said. "It could be two directions, either northeast, toward Konoha, or south, to be closer to Suna. I just can't tell how they would move, because I'd be against doing either." Then her left hand stopped. "Wait…" Kina stood up and turned about from the covered portable table. "Eisai!" she hollered.

"Yeah Kina?" her brother, carrying a load of water to the filter, turned to her upon hearing his name.

"If you had to challenge Konoha or Suna who would you pick? For the bigger challenge?" Kina demanded.

"Are you kidding sister?" the boy, who despite being chosen by the brothel as suitable to be a bishounen remained a boy, laughed. "Konoha of course, Suna's led by a fifteen year old who got himself captured!"

"Thanks Eisai," Kina returned.

"No problem," her brother responded jovially, lifting his jugs of water easily. "Hope that helps."

Kina nodded, and turned back to the map. "Northeast!" her finger speared the northeast portion of the Rivers country.

"You trust Eisai's intuition that much?" Saito mused.

"He's the most sportsman-like among us," Kina replied evenly. "Besides, it makes sense, Konoha's the bigger threat, the most important threat, and, moreover, since the Akatsuki seem to be interested in the jinchuuriki, Suna presumably doesn't have what they want anymore. Also, the Rivers country is unstable, there's no strong power groups nearby, so the Akatsuki could sit about relatively openly and not have to worry about local authority. That's my guess."

"Well, then, northeast rivers country," Saito repeated. "It seems logical. I wonder what Kato's decided." He went and pulled over the long-range radio unit. "Luckily we're just in time to check in." Saito twisted the knobs and inputted the code frequency. "Oscar-Charlie-Delta to Charlie-Charlie-Alpha, do you read, over?"

The reply was a moment in coming; doubtless the Raikage had to pull his radio out from wherever it was hidden in his office. "This is Charlie-Charlie-Alpha, I read you Oscar-Charlie-Delta, please report status, over," Naotaka's voice was somewhat scrambled, but it was still possible for Kina to recognize it.

"Situation is ready," Saito reported. "We've completed setup and are standing by. We completed the preliminary scouting analysis on our end, over."

"Have you?" Naotaka seemed somewhat amused. "Things must be going smoothly, and your conclusions?"

"November-Echo, Romeo-India," Saito used the simple call words to designate the northeast rivers country.

"Hmm…" there was a brief pause. "Concur with Romeo-India, suspect November-Whisky."

"Northwest rivers country," Kina wondered. "Why there?"

Saito echoed his pupil's question. "Justification?"

"Population," the Raiakge replied immediately. "That region is settled, while the other is rocky and low on habitation. Establishment in such a rugged area would make work and supply difficult."

"Right…" Kina understood what the Riakage was getting at. While the Akatsuki couldn't base themselves in inhabited areas, if they were far from people they'd waste all their time bringing in the basic supplies for living, and would lack electrical power and other conveniences. It made a great deal of sense, and she reprimanded herself for not considering that layer.

"What's the next step then?" Saito asked.

"Echo-Sierra-Sierra will be moving in that direction. Your groups will stand by for rapid redeployment as necessary. Be ready to move at a moment's notice."

This too seemed logical to Kina. Master Togawa's team, the elimination search squad, would move in, a move the Akatsuki would expect. The Shinobi-Ite would come in behind them once the attention had already been grabbed. That way they could surround the enemy. It wouldn't do for the s-level criminals to suddenly decide for security and just run.

"Copy that Charlie-Charlie-Alpha," Saito answered. "Oscar-Charlie-Delta clear." He turned back to Kina once he turned the radio off. "It seems your analysis was on the money."

"I should have thought about the geography though," Kina shook her head. "Know your enemy, and know the terrain. It was a stupid mistake, just because I'm not familiar with the area."

"Well," Saito told her. "Don't worry too much, that's why we have multiple people make the analysis. Now, go tell Arisa and your team members that we need to rig everything up to move at any time. I want this whole camp able to be collapsed and destroyed in less than ten minutes."

"Yes sir!" Kina replied smoothly, and got to work.

Chapter Notes:

Charlie-Charlie-AlphaCCA, Central Command Authority

Echo-Sierra-SierraESS, Elimination Search Squad


	13. Inicident 12 Evil Unwritten

**Incident Twelve – Evil Unwritten**

**Fire Country – Empty Village**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**Two Days Later**

"No, Chiyuki, you can't…" Nanami knew saying something wouldn't be enough, so instead she grabbed her sister's shoulders and pushed her forward, making her bend as far as she could go. That way the stream of vomit fell entirely on the bloodied paving stones, not on her clothes. Doing so, Nanami forced herself to clench down the bile in her own throat, feeling it burn back down to her stomach actually helped, it took her mind off what she was seeing.

"Here sister," Shiori, looking more than a little green herself, passed Chiyuki a damp rag. "Wash it off, we've got to make sure to get rid of the smell completely now."

Chiyuki nodded, eyes watery, and wiped her face. "Will it make any difference thought?" she questioned. "We're going to smell like blood for days after this."

"Only till we reach the nearest river," Nanami swore. "Only that long," she promised herself, she would get the reek of this away, as soon as she could. "Endure sisters, we have to endure this, it's not your fault."

"Curse that monster anyway!" Shiori spat. "Why couldn't he have done us all a favor and gone to Hell already?"

"I wish he had," Nanami muttered. "I wish he had." For now though, she could only keep walking. They had to try and figure out which way their quarry had gone.

It had begun the day before, or so they thought. The man supposedly named Hidan had reformed, or reawakened, or whatever term must be fashioned to fit his reacquisition of a complete body. However, it appeared that his mind had not returned in quite the same way.

The rumor had cut across the land faster than the swiftest eagle, rumor of a village soaked in blood, a place where some dark spirit of vengeance had risen up, or so it was said. Nanami's team one, their ears to the ground in a nearby town, had heard immediately. They had been waiting. All was in readiness; it was only needed now to locate their foe.

In all their darkest dreams they had not expected what was waiting for them.

The Shinobi-Ite were no strangers to death, they lived with it, saw it, and dealt in it, but the deaths they knew were clean things, an arrow to some vital region, or a burst of explosive power. Quick things, all done in an instant. This, it had been something else.

The bodies lay in a heap at the center of town, every last man woman and child, piled together on long stakes of wood or iron, clearly ripped apart from simple fences. A sickening fountain, the mass had dripped blood all across the square, coating everything in a thin layer of red. They were mutilated and tortured those poor, poor, people, but the most horrifying thing of all Nanami had learned when they dared to examine one of the bodies. None of the wounds had killed. All had bled to death slowly while they lay there.

The first time, they had all retched; spewing everything their stomachs possessed all across the ground. Thankfully they had managed to cover for each other, avoided fouling their clothes with the smell of vomit, so difficult to fully remove. It was the smallest of victories, but they had nothing else for now.

The second time shock had overwhelmed the urge to empty the stomach, but the third time, well, now each showed their numbness in her own way.

Three villages, every last soul save perhaps a handful of desperate escapees, had been put to the pike. The first time Shiori, in a great display of bravery, managed to take a rough count. It had been around three hundred. They hadn't managed to count the next two villages.

"We have to find out which way one more time sisters," Nanami managed to break their silence. "Night has almost fallen, hopefully he will not move again till morning."

"I don't know," Chiyuki's voice was weak, but her eyes had returned to normal. "Why should an immortal care for darkness?"

"Perhaps," Nanami spoke regretfully. "However, the road leads to this little village, but not away from it. He would have to travel overland from here. In these hills even that demon-spawn would likely get lost."

"I will find the way, sister, I swear," Chiyuki spoke softly, but her words contained ice-cold anger.

The trio fanned out across the square, looking for any clue. Their quarry had moved without regard for secrecy, engaging in slaughter after slaughter seemingly uncaring as to any possible consequence. It was madness; anyone who could reason would know the Leaf would learn of this. Nanami suspected they could not be but hours behind her own team at worst, and it was easy to close quickly. They had been half a day behind the first village, but, reading the dead with cold cynicism, not more than two hours had passed since he left this place. If Nanami had wished, once they learned the path they could have caught Hidan around nightfall.

Such a course would not be followed. The three sisters now fully understood just what they faced. Their arrows might knock their foe down for a week, but such a short reprieve was all they could garner. Though she burned to destroy this hell-spawned thing more than she had desired anything in her life, Nanami knew she could not. For now, all she could do was find where he had gone. It was not enough, but perhaps it would be when they could tell Yadome. Their sister waited not far, bearing the promised power to destroy this monster. If they could find the knowledge to close the ring it would be enough, it must be.

"Nanami!" Chiyuki's voice called. "I've found it! We have the bastard!"

The other two snipers rushed over to see what had been found.

It was indeed obvious. Hidan must have been drunk on slaughter to be so careless, leaving a set of footprints of blood on a long path out of the little village. They followed the path out almost a whole kilometer, tracks signs of passage through the rough woodland even when the footprints failed. "He's heading north, slowly," Shiori concluded. "How far to the next town?"

Nanami pulled out a map. "Only fourteen kilometers, but over that," she pointed to the rough and rugged country silhouetted in the sunset. "He'll never make it before dawn. We have him," cruel anticipation spiked through Nanami as she took out her radio.

"Sierra-India-One to Sierra-India-Four do you read?" Nanami knew she should get through, even the tiny village still had a radio repeater, and the foolish Hidan had not bothered to destroy them.

"This is Sierra-India-Four," the sharp and unmistakable voice of Yadome answered.

"Reporting," Nanami began. "Sierra-India-One has determined target's destination as Victor-Seven-November," she used the code number they had assigned to the nearby villages. "Estimated time of arrival: shortly after dawn. Are you go?"

"Copy," Yadome replied. "Sierra-India-Four confirms Operation: Godless is go. Thanks, all of you."

Yadome was almost never emotional, so for her to thank Nanami spoke volumes about the nature of the situation, about how united they all were against this monster. "Copy that," Nanami answered, feeling just the tiniest glimmer of satisfaction. "Sierra-India-One to move off and await further developments. Clear."

Nanami shut down the radio and turned back to her teammates. "Let's get of this trail and find a river."

The other two nodded. Their part was now done.

"Are you all set?" Yadome asked Tsune one final time.

"I am ready," the young nun answered. "I was meant to be ready so I am ready."

"Very well," Yadome was not good with the young woman's religious references. She had never felt close to any gods, but perhaps she could see how one's life might be considered guided by fate, even if she did not truly believe it. "Remember, you must act as if I am not here, for you will not see me and I will not make a move until the moment is come to strike the blow."

"I understand," Tsunes voice was firm. "I do not fear today."

Yadome nodded, and then tugged the cowl of her suit completely over head. "Then the next step is yours." She spoke softly, letting her voice trail away even as she knew her appearance was doing.

Total operations gear, the other half of the Shinobi-Ite formula. Only one set was complete, and it belonged to Yadome.

A suit of black fabric fitted with extremely tight perfection to her lithe frame formed the base. Gloves, hood, and goggles added to it, enveloping the figure in darkness broken only by the piercing reflection of those lenses, and even that could be smothered. The suit was not just an article of clothing. Traced into that black fabric in ink of precisely the same color were four thousand six hundred and ninety-five seals. It had taken Genjiro five years, and he had counted every last one.

The composite bow Yadome carried had several hundred more seals, a pattern far more complex than the simple strength enhancements used on the field bows. They wove all about its structure, hidden everywhere in the grain, even woven into the bowstring. The bow had no sight, for the goggles rendered it unnecessary. With this, Yadome's transformation from a young woman with a pale countenance to a faceless deliverer of death was complete.

A latent pattern of seals had activated the moment the sniper was completely masked, forming a camouflage pattern that perfectly matched all backdrops from every direction. Seeing a person with such a mask was almost impossible, especially if, as Yadome did now, they simply moved to a position and waited.

Tsune stood with shakoju in hand, wearing the simple gray robes of her order, facing the south. In the east the sun rose behind the hills. Yadome had moved to a place on the west side of the street, standing against a corner. Hidan, she had learned, wielded his large scythe in the right hand. Such a thing was habit forming, he would most likely move to his right past Tsune. She waited and watched, knowing the time would come soon.

One of the functions of Yadome's goggles was to display time accurately if she made the proper motions with her mouth. In this way, she knew it was precisely one hour and twenty-four minutes after dawn that he arrived.

Neither sniper nor nun had ever seen their foe before, only heard the brief description provided by Nanami, but it could not have mattered less.

He wore blood-soaked rags, and his body was covered in dried blood and the marks of a thousand punctures, but his stride was easy. Black pits devoid of color seemed to have conquered his eyes, but he wore a broad smile. His scythe he held loose in his right arm, carrying the massive, three-bladed weapon as if it meant nothing at all.

At those eyes, staring ahead with such empty hunger, Yadome recognized something. She had not seen it in a long time, not since before she became a ninja, but it was still clear. This man had lost his mind and his humanity along with it. It barely surprised her, staring at that face with the enhanced vision of her lenses. The flesh had a strange appearance, grainy, as if it had been poured somehow, like clay in a mould. Any man, reconstructed from ash, would surely lose himself. Now though, Yadome knew the monster absolutely had to be put down. She tightened her grip on the arrow, marking the spot in her mind. All she needed now was the right moment. The rest depended on Tsune.

"Another day, another slaughter to begin," Hidan's voice cackled in the sunlight, all restraint gone from it. "So boring, boring, boring, boring, but necessary…"

"Boring?" Tsune's voice broke the still moment with terrible potency. "You have so little care for the lives you take, for the souls you despoil? You are depraved monster, a pathetic animal, but you shall not have you way here!"

"What is this now?" Hidan stopped short. He was perhaps twenty-five meters from the first row of houses. People had already cleared the streets, Tsune had warned them of what would come today. The Akatsuki member drew up to his full height, taller than the nun. "A little Buddha doll? How lucky, Jashin's sent me a present today."

"What is your madness now?" Tsune questioned, but Yadome saw her knuckles were white from the grip on her shakoju. "You shall not enter here!"

"Hahahahaha!" Hidan burst into laughter, descending swiftly into growls, cackling hyena-like. "Jashin gave me back my life, but it cost him, made him mad. He demands the proper rituals, a great festival of worship. Thousands must die, and die soon, but you, little doll, your life is worth so much more than these. My great lord is most bounteous, to send one such as you onto my path."

"Fool!" Tsune bellowed, her voice drowning out that of the much larger man. "Your paltry demon master is as dust before the everlasting power of the Buddhas! You shall not enter here!"

One of the many functions of Yadome's crystalline goggles was the ability to see currents of something of the expression of chakra. Now, great clouds gathered. A vast, hideous darkness swirled about Hidan, and narrow, pristine pillar of golden light about Tsune.

"Insolent whelp!" Hidan shrieked. "I'll show you true power!"

Then the Akatsuki's scythe was in the air, and he lashed the massive weapon forward, its lethal tines poised to pierce Tsune straight through.

At the moment of contact the nun slammed her shakoju down, its bells ringing.

The very air recoiled, and a great noise, a mighty gong as wide as a building could be heard to sound.

"Your darkness shall not touch one grain of sand within this village!" Tsune's voice was raw and hoarse, but Hidan's scythe lay some ten meters behind him, its points stuck to the haft in the ground.

Yadome watched in some astonishment. The sniper had long noted the palpable aura of power the old monk Genjiro carried with him, held carefully just beneath the surface, always waiting to be called upon in times of dire need. Tsune was different; she did not have her grandfather's perfectly cultivated control, his decades-developed precision. Instead the energy poured off her in waves, a vibrating aura of power it came. In that moment Yadome felt she foresaw the future, and it was awe-inspiring. This young woman would become one who could walk through the gates of Hell itself without fear, to stare into the eyes of the bijuu and rebuke them, and to summon the gods themselves from the heavens to mete out the justice of the righteous. Legends spoke of such things, of a man who had sent the Kyuubi to spin in the depths of hell for a hundred years, of a woman who brought rain to the desert so long as she lived. Genjiro's lineage was ancient, his line bore the blood of such great ones, and it seemed in his granddaughter one had returned to walk the earth again.

But she could not win today. That was equally obvious to Yadome. Hidan's darkness was thick, piled upon itself in many layers, coat after coat of despair building to an armor of denial that would not acknowledge anything but his own invincibility. No strength could break that armor, only cunning pierce it and unravel it from within. Tsune had the strength, but she was raw, untested, and could not find the path necessary.

It did not matter. The right tool was in Yadome's hand. All she needed was for Tsune to buy her a chance. She waited.

"Bitch!" Hidan hissed. "You begin to irritate me!" He bit down hard and spat blood onto the ground. "Watch little fool, I will show you your folly." He drew a line in his blood.

"Nothing your dark god can provide will avail you," Tsune retorted. The nun appeared otherwise frozen in fear, but Yadome saw she was not, her shakoju moved in her hands, drawing seals in the dirt.

Hidan drew a symbol of his own, and then plunged his hand into it.

The earth rippled, vibrating as the ocean. Hidan pulled his hand free with something dark and squirming upon it. It was amorphous, its form resisted the eye, and the mind recoiled from the false face of this thing it presented to the world. Yadome, eagle-eyed, stared upon it and saw nothing, she could not pierce this thing's true nature, but she could see into it, instinctively, she knew where the creature's core was. A split thing this false puppet, half itself, half of Hidan, and neither alive.

"There are plenty of dark things left in the earth," Hidan cackled. "How about you try a little bane?" He hurled the strange glob toward Tsune.

It unfolded in flight, unimpaired by wind or gravity, becoming a strange, coiled mass, some sucking spiral to drag things into the empty pit of its true reality.

"Zocho, guardian of the South, seal this passage!" Tsune drew her hands from the staff, bringing them wide, and then clapping them together around the hard wood.

The seals at her feet burst into blue light, spiraling upward to form into a coherent whole. A wide helm, a scarf trailing beneath in snapping wind blowing from some other realm, all the size of an ox, appeared before the ama. The image appeared ethereal, ghostly and incapable of stopping anything, but the dark apparition struck it only to splash across the helm's broad face. It struggled there, but went no further.

"Cursed little whelp!" Hidan appeared behind his casting of blood and earth. "You think to stop me with this?" He reached his hand into his dark evocation and pressed forward.

The helmet moved back, and Yadome watched as Tsune labored under great strain. In the greater vision provided by her goggles she saw a great wave of darkness pressing against a slender wall of gold. It seemed for the longest time that it would inevitably buckle and crumble away.

Tsune slowly collapsed to her knees.

"Hehe little fool," Hidan howled, and his hair whipped up about his face. "I shall make you bow down and curse you precious Buddhas before I consume your life!"

"You may take my life," Tsune whispered. "None know when their time comes…" she gripped her staff with both hands, tears in her eyes. "But I will never bow before you on this turn of the wheel or any other!"

Heat blasted through the air, and Tsune stood, rising now even with her foe. "This gate is sealed!" she screamed into howling winds of power. "Not till the end of time comes will you pass through!"

Hidan's gaze seemed to change, and Yadome saw his anger go from hot to cold. She knew the moment had come, and drew back her bow.

"If I cannot pass through," Hidan spoke with his voice cold, sounding eerily sane. "Then I shall shatter the gate." He reached into the dark mass before him and it shifted. What was formless gained form, becoming a simple, cruel tool: a knife whose blade was black as death.

The knife struck Tsune's shield, and slid through it as if there was nothing there. Three slow, casual strokes were made by the Akatsuki.

The barrier shattered.

Energy exploded, throwing all apart, hurling wind and heat through the air.

Tsune was hurled back high, flying up to sprawl atop the roof of one of the homes she had stood before.

Hidan was thrown to the ground, his body bent backward, and lacerations slashed across much of his blood-coated flesh, but he only laughed.

Tsune struggled to her feet above, holding herself up only though the assistance of her staff, and that trembled.

Hidan turned to face her, and as he did he faced Yadome, who, eyes protected by her lenses, had moved through the storm of power, completely undetected. The Akatsuki raised his head, and he spread his arms wide, a look of ecstasy on his face. "You see? You see the truth now? You see your fail-"

A feathered shaft appeared in the space between both collarbones, just above the sternum, the angle was perfect, for Yadome stood while her target kneeled.

"What's this?" Hidan grasped the shaft of wood. "An arrow? What folly, no little dart can harm…"

A single flash of gold appeared on the Akatsuki's chest, and then another, and another, slowly a spiral began to trace itself out from the arrow, coating the skin, each symbol larger than the last, moving about slowly.

"What?" Hidan barked, staring down.

The Akatsuki's hands were upon his chest, and the spiral moved onto them as well. Hidan raised his hands to his face then, and saw at last what Yadome could see.

"No! NO! Impossible!"

As each symbol was traced, the flesh beneath it turned to dust, and simply hung in the air.

"It cannot be! I am immortal! Immortal! It was promised me! Promised me forever!" The Akatsuki screamed, and then was suddenly silent, he was not yet dead, but the spiral had reached his vocal chords. Thereafter he would scream in silence, as Yadome looked on without remorse as the pattern of Genjiro, inscribed at great labor and carried a great distance, did its work.

When all the body was turned to dust and golden writing encased the entire form there was a flash, blinding even Yadome's vision. In that moment the form of golden flame shrank to a minute point, and then flared for a single second.

All was silent. Of the follower of Jashin known as Hidan there remained only blood-stained rags upon the ground.

"The gods are great and merciful," Yadome heard Tsune say from above her.

"Are you alright?" the sniper called, pulling back her hood so she could at last be seen easily.

"I'm fine," Tsune replied, and the nun lowered herself to the ground carefully. "Just rather bruised that's all. I will be ready to go in a minute."

"Take your time," Yadome told her. She did not feel in any hurry to leave, not after what she had just seen.

"Strange," Tsune spoke slowly, her eyes cloudy, upon the edge of tears. "We won, and cleansed the world of a great evil, but somehow, somehow I feel that I failed. I feel that if my faith was true I should have been able to stop him alone. The Buddha was with me, I know it, but still, I could not defeat him. It seems my strength is not enough."

"You do not lack for strength," Yadome spoke without hesitation, though it was unlike her, she could not remain silent now. "You had the strength to match that man blow for blow, a man who clawed himself out of Hell when he was reduced to ash. You do not lack strength, you are simply inexperienced."

"Do you think so?" Tsune asked the sniper, eyes dry. "I am not so certain."

"I do not say you should be, yet," Yadome answered, thinking back to something that had once been said to her. "Commander Kato told me once that I had a gift, a talent whose potency outshined anything he had seen before, but it was untamed, that was why he could trick me and win. You are like that too I think," and indeed, thinking on it Yadome felt a strange sort of kinship with this woman. They were people of worlds terribly different, and yet both were marked apart by the ability to do things at a level beyond that others could do, she to chart the path of an object in flight, and Tsune to hear the whispered voice of the gods. "It is known that the better the sword, the longer it will take to forge, surely that is the case for you."

"Perhaps," Tsune answered. "But you and your sisters were given to Captain Saito to be forged, while my grandfather, he would not do that, he is too kind, but my skills, they must be tempered. There is evil in the world that cannot be fought from within the walls of a temple. I saw it today, but surely I will see it again." She paused, and then looked up at the sun, still low in the eastern sky. "I will not go back to the temple from here," Tsune said suddenly, but her voice was totally resolved. "I will not go back until this campaign is won. I know I cannot fight with your sisters, your way is not my way, but even if I should sit in the camp and wait, I am certain there is something for me to do. I saw it today. I have something yet to do with you before this is over; I can feel it waiting as the wheel turns."

"As you wish," Yadome did not truly care either way whether the nun came with them or not, but after today she would not dare reject her premonitions without reason. "We should go. There is much to report."

Chapter Notes:

Zocho is one of the four heavenly kings who protect the world from demons. He is guardian of the south and wears a helmet with wind-blown scarves.

On a humorous note, it took a tremendous effort of willpower not to have Tsune scream "You shall not PASS!" at any point during this chapter.


	14. Incident 13 Clouds Gather

**Incident Thirteen – Clouds Gather**

**River Country – Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Two Days Later**

Kurame walked the dark halls of the factory, her heeled footfalls echoing along the metal-lined passage. She need not have made sound, but it would be madness to do so, to try and surprise him. He might be mad, she often wondered about it, but she was not. So she strode openly, knowing he awaited her presence.

As always, she wondered at Rei's fascination with this industrial city, abandoned in the middle of its development when they polluted all their water so it became unlivable. He had claimed it thereafter, doing something to make the water clean again, though she always used her own jutsu to make doubly sure, not trusting. Still, the industrial setting seemed strange. Industry represented the power of the weak to express their numbers and overcome the strong. It was not the order she believed in, and neither did it match his goals, any of their goals. So why stay in this place? Kurame had considered many things, but never determined just what game he was playing.

Rei dwelled at the center of the plant, a former observation room high in the air, a place where he could observe everything. Kurame simply thought it was cold up so high.

Still, she had to accept that her boss had a reasonable sense of taste. His decorations were subdued, but classic and well made, tending toward very dark wood and cold colors. It made for a very dim environment, but fitted well together. She didn't favor the style personally, but it wasn't the aesthetic disaster of everyone else's rooms.

He sat in a large chair, almost a throne in some ways, a representation of both authority and arrogance. Kurame had never cared much for the symbols of power, save as they served to manipulate others, but she understood his conceit in having such a piece of furniture. Besides, she had to admit is was a rather fine chair, and looked awfully comfortable too, pity she had nothing to match.

"Report," Rei demanded simply when Kurame's footsteps indicated she had entered. His armchair was turned away from the door, they could not see each other's faces, but both knew exactly where the other was.

"I have managed to put together the intelligence we have gathered this past week," she began, waiting to see how he wished to proceed. There was no set pattern to these events, only Rei's unearthly whims. She knew he was toying with her; it was simply something he did, a perfectly rational way to continually express his dominance of the relationship. Kurame acknowledged that she probably had needed the reminders at times in the past. Not any more though, the situation was no longer acceptable for betrayals.

"And?" he beckoned. "Who is it?"

"It is Hidden Cloud, beyond any doubt," Kurame answered with complete confidence.

"And your evidence?" his voice was perfectly controlled, it could not be known if he was skeptical or not.

"He raided a bounty office in the Fire country, a location where the man who took paid the bounty to Kakuzu had sought refuge," Kurame explained. "There were survivors; the witness descriptions match him perfectly."

"Then Cloud wanted us to know it was them," Rei muttered. "Interesting, why do such a thing?"

Kurame had already struggled with that puzzle, for it was odd. The initial strike had come with absolute stealth, but now their enemies moved openly, making their opposition known. It had taken some work to discern the motive. "They are trying to lure us out."

"That seems foolish," Rei countered. "Why would they provoke our actions?"

"Because they lack leads," Kurame explained. "And because they have to move quickly, the Cloud cannot operate freely in the Fire country, certainly not for long. They are attempting to provoke us, to make us move when they still have limited information."

"Reasonable," he answered. "So they hope to find another pair dispatched against them, and take us apart piece by piece. That makes sense; they must believe we do not yet know of Hidan and Kakuzu's destruction. Our communications favor us."

Kurame had to agree, their mental linkage was one of the traits that set the Akatsuki apart, and that allowed it to function as an organization even when its members could barely stand to all be in the same room at once. Without that power they would long since have been chopped apart piecemeal. It was one of the key factors that had allowed Kurame to conclude the organization's goals were not simply a mad dream. Still, she felt it necessary to add a caution. "They may not know of our communications, but they are startlingly well informed. Rei, Hidan is dead."

"I know," he dismissed the comment. "Why are you wasting my time?"

"No, you mistake me," she continued. "I do not mean he has been blow apart, I mean he's dead, apparently for good this time."

"What?" he could not mask all the hints of confusion this time.

"I just got the information from Zetsu," she told him. "But it seems to hold up. Apparently our Jashin-boy managed to shamble back to the world of the mobile a few days past, only to start slaughtering villages."

"Idiocy."

"Of course," Kurame couldn't agree more. "Though perhaps it was necessary for him; we never really knew the nature of his possession. Regardless, he didn't get far. If the information Zetsu gathered from his Leaf spy is accurate he was only active for one whole day before someone got in his way."

"Even if his body was destroyed again he should not be dead. Explain," Rei was clearly becoming somewhat impatient.

Knowing better than to keep him waiting, Kurame complied. "There was apparently religious involvement. Witnesses reported Hidan fighting with a nun at the gate to a village. In the end his body was ripped apart in some sealing so thorough not even dust remained. Zetsu checked the site. There's not a trace."

"What does this mean?" Rei growled. "Is there really some saint arisen to oppose us. That would not be acceptable."

"I don't think so," Kurame answered. She had gone over this incident very carefully. "Whoever killed Hidan managed to track him down before the Leaf did. In order for that to occur they must have been waiting nearby for him to reemerge. That indicates the ones who attacked him and Kakuzu in the first place were responsible for tracking him, which goes back to Hidden Cloud. There are those skilled in sealing at the Risen Clouds Temple, if they managed to discern what Hidan was they likely could have equipped ninja with an appropriate counter. I suspect the nun was simply a ruse, and it was actually the work of members of Togawa's team."

"Plausible," Rei responded after a momentary silence. "And who are Togawa's team members? Surely you could figure at least that much out?"

Kurame had expected this, though it was not information she was particularly pleased to reveal. "I was able to identify two based on the descriptions. The third is unknown to me, and likely of less importance. The other two are Enmiura Sadakaze and Yilosi Miya."

"Those two," Rei's voice held a sickening amusement, cutting deep into Kurame. He knew, and he fully intended for her to know he did. Both the very fact of that knowledge and that he held it over her disgusted her, but she said nothing. "Interesting, it seems they suspect you. Is that good or bad?"

"In almost every sense it is bad," Kurame answered, honest. "They are better than what Togawa should have gathered, and they have a motive to see this through, so infighting will be a reduced factor. They will keep coming until they are killed. Also, if it comes to physical battle my own effectiveness will be somewhat reduced. Worst of all, if those two join with Togawa very significant resources can be directed against us, a small army's worth at least."

"You exaggerate," he retorted. "The threat is not so grave as you believe. In fact, there are benefits to this you do not see. Let these four come, the very best Cloud can send, and we shall crush them. It will be the perfect message. You have been preparing a plan to lure them in have you not?"

"I have," Kurame admitted, not particularly encouraged by this response. She believed the situation far more serious. "Have Kisame let himself be seen nearby a few times, most of them should be very surreptitious, but culminate in an incident, say tomorrow, where somebody important, a river vessel perhaps, manages to note him by a seeming mistake on his part. We have already established a reputation of not being cautious enough, now we just need to string them along a little bit longer."

"Why Kisame?"

"Because he's obvious," she scoffed. "The man's a walking shark, he's pictured in every bingo book for a thousand kilometers and nobody forgets his face, not even peasants. Besides, it makes the most sense to let the one of us best known be seen, so the rest of us can potentially maintain anonymity."

"I suppose it should work," and with that meager endorsement Kurame knew Rei had decided the matter. "But I thought you had intended to dangle the two-tails in front of them?"

"I had, and I still don't think we can risk sealing her right now," she explained. "Those two Zetsu gathered in will need to recover their strength yet, and we don't know how much time it would take for them to find us even if we made no moves. As for using the little Yugito," Kurame knew she should probably call her by the demon name, but it wasn't easy to consistently use a false name when you knew the real one, and she didn't want to give Rei the impression she was lying. "Well, I must not have mentioned that Kisame really ought to be seen carrying her body." Her voice curled languidly about the final phrase.

"Coy witch," her leader snapped, as un-amused as always. "That makes more sense though. As long as he is careful in his path it would appear that he is carrying her here. It will work. Go tell Kisame to get to it, I want this matter finished quickly, keeping that demon confined is a risky business," at least he had the good sense to admit such a thing, Kurame noted. It was always a good sign when he accepted that difficulties existed, it made it easier to work around them.

"I understand," she slid out. "The next few days are likely to be rather busy then."

"Busy, ha," he stole the last word. "That doesn't matter; when this is done everything will be back on course again. Do not dare delay."

"Of course not, delays are not favorable," Kurame meant that last. She had no desire to see their efforts sidetracked. With luck Kazumasu Togawa and those other minor problems would be dead inside the week, something she looked forward to with great anticipation. It would make everything so much easier with that man gone.

It was coming together, Kurame decided as she walked down the beaten stairs of the unfinished tower. Once this was done and poor Yugito dealt with they would be two thirds of the way to the most important step. Only three remained thereafter, and they knew the location of one of those, so really only two. Kurame knew she could overcome all setbacks; she had repeatedly in her life. Turning a disadvantage into an advantage was something she was good at, and she had a way in mind for this as well.

Kisame received his orders, but the blue-haired woman also relayed secret messages to her own hidden agents. She had easily discerned that their foes would come from the north, skirting the Fire country border to avoid the eyes of Konoha. That was a benefit, but there would be other eyes in those tumultuous northern lands, eyes she wanted to see. It was all well to annihilate Togawa themselves, but she'd rather another do it for them or, failing that, die at the cloud jounin's hands. Rei would not approve, Kurame knew enough of him to recognize that he had decided to avoid this entanglement, but she did not agree. If she could use this crisis to eliminate a lingering liability that was perhaps more serious, all the obstacles would disappear at once. Most important of all, she saw no way it could possibly go badly for her, even examining every possibility. Such plans were the very best kind.

_Now twice-betrayer, learn what it is to face all hands turned against you_, she smiled coldly at the thought.

Chapter Notes:

I'm curious as to what people think of Kurame. Her character is kind of tricky because I have to make her at least nominally sane to present the Akatsuki in any reasonable fashion. I'm worried so far that she doesn't come off as evil enough because she hasn't been seen doing anything yet, though I do have plans to make her nature clear eventually.


	15. Incident 14 Uncompromising Vision

**Incident Fourteen – Uncompromising Vision**

**Rice Field Country – 6 Kilometers from Fire/Water Corner**

**Bandit Controlled Territory**

**Two Days Later**

Arisa almost missed it. She was positioned high on a bluff, looking north, when she saw the first glimmer.

It didn't seem like hardly anything, just the sun glancing off something, and normally she wouldn't have remarked it. Still, she was a diligent and cautious person, and made an effort to check even the minutest details. It was the only way she felt she could succeed as a leader, for she had not Kina's insight or Nanami's cool-headed camaraderie, diligence and adherence to effective method were all she could muster.

Diligence would not have been enough on its own, for Arisa's initial scan showed nothing, there was no evidence, so it must have been a bird or something equally minute off in the distance. Yet she kept scanning the area, having seen nothing for hours in this bland forest, and even if only a bird it would be something to remark and break the tedium.

Then she caught a flash of color. Purple. It did not belong, such a color in the forest here, an obvious man-made dye. Focusing to the highest magnification Arisa shook her gaze across the far-off woodland, hoping to catch movement.

In a spastic flicker of a blink there it was, a person moving, the unmistakable profile of a human moving from one tree to another; ninja.

The sniper shot to her feet. Searching with her binoculars even as she tongue-tapped her radio and began to report. "Observation North reports incoming repeat, observation north reports incoming. Distance estimated at four kilometers from base and closing rapidly. Count…" she searched, catching differences of movement and color, tracking the figures she could now see with ever-greater clarity as the seconds pulsed by in slow motion. "One…two…three unidentified jumpers inbound," Arisa knew that by now they were listening to her at the camp, but she was not waiting for a reply. She had to get all the information out, had to try and determine all she could about her foe. "Repeat, three unidentified jumpers inbound toward base, estimate four kilometers, ETA fifteen minutes or less."

"Identification?" the gravelly voice of Captain Saito cut in, asking the only question of real importance that remained.

"Searching," Arisa bit down and gritted her teeth. She needed them to move into the open to get a good look. She followed easily for now, her gaze moving with them, but all she could see was white clothes with flashes of color and the occasional splash of dark hair, nothing worthy of recognition. She needed a clear field of view.

Then she had it, as the inbound trio passed through a blowdown and was forced to run across exposed tree trunks.

Two of them were normal enough, nothing useful, but the one in the lead was different. It was he who had exposed them, wearing a massive purple bow on his back. Then, suddenly, he glanced toward her. It would be impossible for the unaided eye to see anything at that range, over a kilometer distant, Arisa knew her camouflage made her impossible to see, but she could see back. The man's skin was deathly pale, snowy white, and then, the sun caught his eyes and flashed color back toward the waiting sniper.

Yellow.

"Orochimaru! Orochimaru!" Arisa screamed into her receiver. She had an eye for details, and had memorized every face in the bingo book. This one had haunted her dreams for weeks, and she could never mistake it.

"Observation North," Saito's voice was startled even through the radio pickup. "Please confirm."

"Observation north confirms," Arisa answered without hesitation, she was rarely sure of anything, but when she was, she did not make mistakes, and she was sure now. "Identify one inbound subject as Orochimaru, repeat Orochimaru, there is no mistake."

"Copy observation north," Saito answered. "Terminate current mission and return to base immediately."

"Understood," Arisa had expected this command. She had grabbed up her bow and already begun moving. She knew what was about to happen. As was inevitable the camp had become known, but this particular presence was completely unanticipated. They had to react quickly, and they had to be faster than ever before.

She ran.

"Get everything moving now!" Saito could be heard bellowing the order. "Get all the valuable equipment moving and then we'll blow the charges. You've got five minutes people, five minutes!"

Archers ran about, grabbing up their gear and loading it onto travel packs. All this had been prepared; everything was ready for hurried dismantling, but to actually do it was still a rush. Arrows disappeared into quivers, tents collapsed, cooking equipment vanished into backpacks, and more as the camp vanished before the eye.

Yadome wasn't watching, instead she undertook a different action, putting on her total operations gear. It required some work to struggle into the bodysuit, and could not be very much hurried. Yet she knew it would be absolutely necessary, as fleeing this camp was not her plan.

Saito grabbed a lantern from next to her, completely ignoring his student in his haste. "Kina, status of Team three?"

"All our gear is set!" the lovely blond answered swiftly. "We'll have team two's ready in moments."

That was good, Yadome knew, as team two, running back from their observation posts, would have barely any time to do more than swing through the camp and grab their share of the loads. All was proceeding.

"Nanami, team one, report your status!" Saito demanded of Nanami's far-ranging team, who had themselves arrived only two days ago.

"We're ready to go sir!" the sniper responded, though she had come far in a short time, the news of Hidan's death had left team one walking on clouds.

"Eisai, status of the charges?" Saito called out to the boy, who had done much of the rigging of the camp with explosion notes and fuel to make sure nothing salvageable would remain.

"I'm holding the timer at three minutes, we'll go whenever you give the word," the young man launched a heart-melting grin to punctuate his words.

"Good," Saito commended. "Now, Tsune, where are you?" he called out for the nun.

Yadome was worried at this. Unlike her sisters the young ama was not a trained soldier, and would not be prepared for this. Hopefully she would not be forced to leave anything behind.

"I have all I need," Tsune's reply was clear as she walked up to where Saito stood gathering together the last of his own gear. "One who follows the Buddha does not carry needless burdens."

"Good…" Saito complemented. "Everyone get ready, it seems the old snake's on the right path toward us, so we can't hope it'll take him long to find this camp. He's got the luck of a devil by all accounts. Arisa should be back in two minutes more. We leave thirty seconds after that, understood?"

"Understood sir!" seven voices, joined belatedly by Tsune's, responded.

When they were done, Yadome, the last of her straps fastened, spoke from behind Saito. "I must get into position now."

The old jounin turned to her, and his face was clouded. "Are you really sure about this?" he asked.

"If I was not certain I would not have agreed to the suggestion," Yadome explained. "This opportunity must not be wasted."

"Even so, to send you out alone like this…" he was hesitating, and Yadome could read it perfectly.

"The others must move the equipment, and besides, my gear sets me apart. I can do things they cannot." It was not a boast, just the simple truth. "I will accomplish this." In her mind there was no doubt, she knew it was possible, so it would be done. Orochimaru was a legend, but so was Kazumasu Togawa, and behind her sharp eyes Yadome held a crystal clear memory of his words. "As the archer, you would destroy me."

"Very well," Saito's misgivings were clear. "But if anything at all goes wrong, retreat immediately. It is not worth your life."

"I understand," Yadome confirmed.

A moment later the three sisters of team two burst back into the camp. "Are we ready?" Yadome heard Arisa gasp as she drew hurried breaths.

Saito looked to the others, receiving curt nods as his eyes passed over. "We're ready. Let's move it!"

In less than a minute Yadome was left alone as fire consumed the place that had been home for a few short days.

With the seals on her bow and the special strengthened arrows, combined with the enhanced senses provided by her goggles Yadome could kill with a flat trajectory shot at some six hundred meters. She waited instead at slightly less than five hundred, on a rough mound of earth that formed only one of three possible sniping points within range of the camp. She had a clear view through the forested vegetation, and many shots were available to her. The camouflage of her suit was perfect, she radiated no chakra and blended perfectly with her background, all sounds were absorbed by her suit. Nothing alive could have been more difficult to spot than she.

In converse, the sniper's vision of the ruined encampment could not have been better. Her goggle's specialized magnification created a tunnel of sight transporting her to less than a tenth of her actual distance from the target, and even funneled sound toward her so she could here what was said far off. All was in readiness.

There would be three, Yadome knew this, and it was excellent when three at length appeared. The tallest wore glasses, immediately recognizable as Yakushi Kabuto, a former medic who had been listed in the bingo book just over two years before. To his left came a strange looking youth, his appearance loose and exposed, a bishounen look similar to those Eisai knew. Yadome thought it nothing but tacky, but it was easy to recognize this one. Konoha had tried to hide his identity, but the instantly recognizable name and high-profile escape from his home had allowed all to know just who Uchiha Sasuke was. Orochimaru himself came last, and as unmistakable.

Yadome regarded them all with a curious mixture of disdain and pity. These three had all turned their backs on their villages, broken the sacred bonds of trust and the oaths they had sworn. She did not understand how anyone could live on after something like that. To even imagine it, a world in which her sisters became her enemies, was impossible for the sniper. Such a road was alien, incomprehensible. Yet she felt some pity for them, these three so devoted to the cause of power, for they had failed to learn the simplest of lessons in life. Pure power was not decisive, and indeed only blinds. Those in the thrall of power see nothing else, and therefore know neither their own face nor that of the enemy. From such illusions come endless perils. It pleased the sharp-eyed sniper to think of herself as a peril in the path of maniacal ambition.

The trio moved slowly through the ruined camp, not hurried, but relaxed. The clearly saw no threat at all, believing their enemies had fled before them. Indeed, Saito had been careful to have a traceable trail left, to make it seem as if everyone was gone. Orochimaru would believe this, after all, he surely thought they were Konoha scouts, or perhaps a pair of Akatsuki, and his ego would freely accept that those beings should flee before his approach.

When your foe's intentions are obvious they can always be led into a trap. It was one of the many lessons Commander Kato had taught them, and Yadome smiled now to remember it, even as she caressed an arrow with the perfect tactile reception of her seal-coated gloves. She had drawn up her attack in her mind, now it was simply time to execute it.

The Uchiha would have to die first, this was obvious. If he should live his eyes would make everything many times more difficult. Yadome was aware of that, she remembered the sharingan, had seen it before. Yet she had defeated it then, and knowing that simple truth knew with absolute assurance she would defeat it now.

The first arrow left her bow, cloaked in jutsu, light bending away from the chakra wrapped around it, rendering it invisible. A similar effect made it completely without sound, and Yadome's nigh-perfect understanding of the way of the bow cloaked it within the wind so it could not be felt until the very last.

One second behind another arrow followed, and then another on the second's path, and finally a fourth. These were not cloaked in masking jutsu, but that would not be necessary.

The Uchiha was said to be a great prodigy, and Yadome watched as he proved it. Even as he felt the disruption in the air at the very last moment he managed to move with lightning speed, turning and ducking just enough so that an arrow that would have passed clean through the eye instead penetrated just above the temple.

A howling scream ripped through the air.

"What!" Yadome could hear as Kabuto reacted, watching the ninja as he turned and then shouted. "No Sasuke, you mustn't!"

Then Kabuto turned, and saw the arrow in front of him. His hand slashed through the air, grabbing the barbed missile in his open palm, ignoring the splash of blood as it scrapped and lacerated his skin. "Ridiculous…" the seals' power carried the word to Yadome, and she could only smile.

Kabuto's glasses shattered as twin barbs passed through them, piercing down through his eyes and ripping apart his brain. He had time only to gasp in incomprehension before death claimed him.

It had not been the second arrow the medic had grasped, but the third. Shot with much greater force than the second arrow, and with the smallest application of wind chakra, it had pierced completely through the second arrow. The split arrow was not disrupted, but continued on to its target in two pieces, only slightly apart.

_Perfect_, Yadome thought upon reflection of this move, the success of her shaft shot splinters, a technique she had created and only she could perform, no other had the skill necessary to make the perfect twin shots.

Orochimaru dealt with the fourth arrow with overwhelming force, snakes burst from his hands and bit into the wood a good distance from his body. A wise move this was indeed, for Yadome's fourth arrow had been the only exploding arrow she used, and Orochimaru's snakes were ripped apart even as they spared their master.

The moment done, Yadome rapidly assessed. Kabuto dead, Orochimaru alive, and the Uchiha still stood, but something odd was happening.

Through the enhanced vision of her lenses the sniper watched as the youth's skin rippled and burned, then turned black. His whole body expanded then, and hardened. It was some kind of transformation, and for a moment Yadome feared she had truly miscalculated and prepared to flee.

Then there was a snap.

The arrow, still embedded in the Uchiha's skull, snapped from the force of expansion.

In her mind, hearing the scream that followed, Yadome could image what had happened, the force of bending the arrow against bone, until the wooden shaft gave. The power of the release would carve the jagged ends of wood and metal barb through the tissue of the brain, and surely mean death.

A long, eternal second after this realization, the black-haired youth fell to the ground.

"Sasuke!" Orochimaru barked. "Damn it all! This can't be happening! Who the f-ck dares!"

Yadome, only able to hear the snake-ninja shout by the virtue of her gear, said nothing, considering only how she could destroy her opponent now.

Swiftly three arrows were launched, a triangular pattern, even as Yadome rolled to the right, moving just enough to present a different target in case Orochimaru was good at tracking trajectories.

The snake-faced criminal, eyes burning, saw the weapons coming. Fire burst from his mouth and consumed them with brutal superiority. "You can't hide from me!" he hissed. "Shinjitsu bakuro no jutsu!"

The world seemed to peel back, and all things were swept by an eye that could not be fooled, could not be dissuaded, as all illusion was forced to conform to merciless reality. Yadome was blinded for an instant, knowing even then that her hiding place had been revealed.

"There you are," the snake voice was chill and foul. "You've made me mad, so now you'll suffer. I'll make up for this with your torments."

Yadome did not reply, but waited for what was to come, what could she have said, with her face hidden by black fabric, in any case?

Orochimaru charged.

It was unwise, Yadome decided immediately. He ought to have retreated, or circled about, and waited for another opportunity. At this range all the initiative still rested with her, five hundred meters in which to kill her foe. He was not thinking rationally, apparently the death of his companions had been enough to let lose the snake's anger. Knowing this, Yadome had a weapon she could use.

Crackling with power arrows of lightning leapt forth from her bowstring, a stream of coruscating bolts to strike the white-skinned ninja.

Moving ten times the speed of a normal arrow, and able to penetrate any block, these were difficult weapons to deal with. Yadome expected Orochimaru to blast them aside with a jutsu, a move requiring him to slow, making him vulnerable.

Yet he had not come to be known as a legend without having a few surprises.

Arrow after arrow splashed into the flesh of the snake ninja, burning hideous wounds from the discharge of power, but he did not slow, did not change his course. Only as his legs buckled at one hundred and fifty meters did things change.

Orochimaru's mouth shot open and fully formed a copy of his body burst forth, speeding along through the air, stretching out immensely, reaching toward Yadome.

In shock the sniper leapt backward, moving upward into the trees, she was confused, a march had been stolen upon her, and now her options were more limited. Desperately Yadome tried to prepare a counter to whatever Orochimaru would do next.

"Ya kage bushin no jutsu!" Yadome launched an arrow that became hundreds of arrows. It was a dangerous move, costing a great deal of chakra, but surely it would force Orohcimaru to block.

"Pointless little fool!" Orochimaru howled, and spat at her arrows.

Each droplet of spittle formed into a snake, and these little reptiles flew through the air to intercept the darts with their bodies. Broken they fell to the ground, but not one pointed barb passed on to reach their master.

The sniper knew she was in trouble, and felt fear for the first time in a long time. Orochimaru was considered perhaps the strongest ninja alive, how could she hope to beat him in the open? He seemed immune to her attacks, and on he came. Yadome could only stand, frozen; hoping to block whatever was coming.

"Now, you are mine!" Orochimaru's head seemed to leap out from his body, his neck extending like a plastic strand. His mouth opened and his tongue duplicated this same hideous distortion, but at the end of that long organ rested a shining blade.

This was recognized instantly as Kusanagi, the grass-cutter, the famous weapon of Orochimaru, blood-stained and able to cut through anything. It was a terrifying thing to see, a legend where Yadome's bow was a conglomerate of simple materials and sealing, a cheap toy compared to this thing that would now slice her apart.

The sniper's eyes watched the blade advance, manipulated on the end of Orochimaru's tongue and could not help but marvel at the motions of the weapon, flickering and shifting with perfect harmony, cutting a precision path through the air, arrowing to take her life.

Yadome laughed; a trilling sound of bells, seldom heard.

One arrow sprang from her bow, a second followed, and a third. They cut through the air at seeming nothing, nowhere near Orochimaru's advance.

In an act appearing mad to the eyes of all Yadome cast aside her bow, catching it with her foot as her left hand dropped down to the small pouch worn adjacent to her quiver.

A shuriken ripped free from her hand as Kusanagi closed the gap.

It struck not at the flickering blade, but each of her arrows, flipping through an impossible path in three dimensions, guided by the precision knowledge that was Yadome's gift.

The metal star slammed into Orochimaru's tongue, carrying it down to the earth.

It did not stop the advancing blade, on that came, but now its path was simplified, solved.

A kick of her foot and Yadome's bow was before her. There was no time to draw an arrow, but she pulled back with all her strength, releasing the snapping bowstring into Orochimaru's tongue.

For a flicker of time so brief only a Yadome's augmented vision could ever see it, the distended pink flesh lost its grip on the Grasscutter's hilt.

Yadome grasped the same with her right hand.

"No!" Orochimaru howled.

"Die!" Yadome's words overlapped his own. The legendary sword flipped over in her hand, to be brought beside her bow. "In the hands of the true archer, all are arrows!" these words, first spoken to her by Captain Saito, were a clarion call now, as all the sniper's remaining chakra wrapped around the lethal blade.

Brilliant light burst from the blade as it took flight with a snap. A piece of the sun perhaps, hurled down to earth, might have resembled that sword, burning through all the protections of Yadome's goggles to leave her vision completely gone, so she could see nothing, trusting only in the skill she had developed all her lifetime.

Three times a ring, loud as the greatest gong ever known, shook the world, but at last there was a single shout of pain. Then silence took all.

Blinking hard and staring through gauze of green and purple Yadome looked upon what she had wrought.

In triplicate there stood mighty gates, iron barred with power and sealing force, each pierced through fully with a ragged hole. Beyond these rested only the form of Orochimaru, now shifted back to the simple image of a single man. Kusanagi rested in the left side of his chest, blood dripped slowly down from that point to the ground.

The legendary sannin had not fallen. He still stood, face contorted in anger, but as Yadome watched she saw he did not move at all, and each breath was weaker than the last.

She notched an arrow to her bow and advanced slowly.

"You…bitch…" Orochimaru wheezed the words as she approached. "What…are…you…?"

"I am Yadome," she answered him, but did not pull the mask from her face. In many ways it would not have been right, for those eyeless goggles and black covering were the true face of the sniper.

"Yadome…kuku…" he managed a bitter, empty cackle. "This…why?"

"Target of opportunity," she answered, the cold truth. Orochimaru had never been their goal.

"Im…possible…" Orochimaru's voice claimed the lie, but the anger left his face, and the sniper saw that he knew it to be true. "Then…the Akatsuki are your foe?"

"Correct," Yadome returned.

"I thought…you…were them…" he managed each word weaker than the last. "It seems…I was tricked, but…but, kukuku…they will not last."

Yadome said nothing, knowing it was almost over, and wondering what this man would chose as his last words. She was not certain why it mattered to her, but it seemed important to bear witness at this moment.

"I was…so close…no one…will ever make it farther…at least…I defied death this far…" he fell silent and his head sank down.

Yadome released her arrow, burying it in his throat, to make certain.

Orochimaru, greatest of the legendary sannin, fell to the leaf-strewn ground with a soft rustle.

The sniper let out a sigh of relief, tension falling away from her and taking her strength with it. She could hardly believe what had just happened. Almost impossible good luck for her, that such a being should attack her with what could be deemed a projectile, the difference between death and life in this place. Did the gods smile upon her? No, it was simply the way of war, if you do not know your enemy there is always peril. Neither had known the other here, and so it had come down to a cast of the dice. Yadome had won. That was all.

Grimly she stood, and pulled forth kusanagi from its former master. Looking at the sword the young woman wondered what its fate should be. For now though, she had a simple use for it. Unlike Hidan and Kakuzu, these men had left bodies behind. It was time to gather the evidence, the proof of this campaign. To use such a sharp implement would make it much easier to sever heads.

Chapter Notes:

'Shinjitsu bakuro' means 'Truth Revelation'

'Ya Kage Bushin no Jutsu' means 'Arrow Shadow Clone'

Considering that Kusanagi was originally taken from the belly of the demon Orochi after he was slain, I find this turnabout particularly fitting.


	16. Incident 15 To Threaten

**Incident 15 – To Threaten**

**River Country – Near an Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Three Days Later**

Yilosi Miya's long fingers crawled slowly over the blade, displaying a tactile wonder at its perfect, nay, supreme, craftsmanship. Togawa watched her with dark amusement, strange that this woman, often imperious and commanding, should express her truly sensual nature in such a fashion. "Well?" He asked the slender spear-wielder.

"Truly, a marvel," Miya whispered. "You can tell it was not made by human hands, it is simply too perfect for that, this is a weapon properly belonging to gods that was misplaced in our world. It puts my spear to great shame."

This was no small admission, for Miya's weapon was in its own way a legend, the finest spear Cloud possessed, indeed the finest any village possessed, the Tonbogiri. Yet, Togawa understood her point, even a true masterwork of the greatest smiths such as that spear could not hope to match a weapon forged in the realm of spirits, something truly not of this world.

"It seems funny that such a thing should fall into our hands," Sadakaze's voice spun the words from behind his open fan, twisting about. "It has belonged to Orochimaru for as long as I have lived, and it seemed likely it would do so forever."

"The whole thing is strange," Aomori added brusquely, he had little patience with the other two's refined and deceptive graces. "Orochimaru just drops into our lap and one girl younger than me manages to kill him, and his crazy medic, and his little Uchiha pawn all at once?" His voice could not contain the surrealism of the situation. "But the sword is here, and I saw the heads too, preserved. It happened, but it's hard to believe."

"Indeed," Miya hissed. "I wonder if Captain Saito is lying to us, if a large group was involved, all of these girls, and whatever loses they suffered, perhaps only the archers survived."

"That would be more believable I must admit," Sadakaze muttered. "Perhaps I shall have to make certain of their stories."

Togawa sneered, and the lightning of his mask crackled and popped. "Are you all so quick to deny?" he snapped. "Even you Aomori, you cannot believe the achievements of the man you revere so?"

"So you believe this then?" Sadakaze was clearly not convinced, looking pouty behind his frightfully handsome face.

"Without a doubt it is the truth," Togawa answered them. "Yadome slew Orochimaru and his servants. She claims she only succeeded because Orochimaru made an unlucky choice, but I think she underrates herself."

"Whence comes this confidence?" Miya raised a long eyebrow. "You have always claimed no one in Cloud beside yourself could stand before Orochimaru."

It was time to reveal something, Togawa knew. He did not wish it, for it was a blow to his pride, but he needed to convince these three. "She matched me in battle, in the open."

"Matched you…" Sadakaze was the only won who spoke, and all three stared at that lightning mask.

Finally Aomori took the thought all the way. "If you fought her in the open, that means you had a huge advantage, and she probably wasn't wearing that strange sealsuit, so, as a sniper she could have killed you…"

"Easily," Togawa finished for him. The suit had surprised even him. To block all clues for any sense at all, even the entire chakra signature, it was like putting the arrow in the hand of a god, you had about equal chance to see the first blow come.

"Most impressive," Miya spoke at last, and turned back to the blade resting on the table. "But why is the sword just lying here?"

"Oh, you don't see Miya?" Sadakaze laughed mildly, lightening the mood. "Obviously our little sniper doesn't want it, and apparently none of her 'sisters' do either."

"Does that mean they're offering it to us?" Aomori wondered.

"So it would seem," Togawa remarked. He could think of no other reason.

"If the girl does not want it, then the weapon goes to Captain Saito as her commander," Miya said. "That is the rule."

"The Captain is going to retire for good after this mission Miya," Aomori spoke confidently. "He did know all the weapons, but he does not need this now, in his twilight."

"Well then, would you take it Aomori?" Sadakaze questioned languidly. "You've trained with just about every weapon there is."

"No," Aomori's response was immediate. "I admit it is a marvelous blade, but it is a symbol of old things, and I want no part of it. Master Togawa is the swordsman, not I, he is best suited."

"No," Togawa's reply was just as quick, and just as true. He did not want the blade. "I will keep my own sword till it shatters and no other. Besides, I have acknowledged these girls, so I will not take gifts from them." He flashed his eyes toward Sadakaze.

The fan-bearing jounin laughed lightly, an almost girlish sound. "What would I do with a sword? And such a large one at that? It is not my style at all; I wouldn't be able to make any use of it. Miya's the weapon master, not me."

"Master of the spear little fog-friend," she quipped. "Not the sword. I admit I desire this weapon, even if I would not use it myself, but it is far to valuable to let sit on a wall gathering dust. Likewise I would not take it only to give to someone else. Oh, my clan would benefit, but to do such a thing is far too crass, not with a weapon like this. If I had claimed Orochimaru's head myself I might, but like this, no, it is too great a thing to treat so flippantly."

Togawa had expected this, none of them truly wished to carry the sword. It would be awkward really, who would carry the weapon of a man so famous as Orochimaru when they knew another had taken it from him. These jounin were far too proud for that. "I wonder then though, if not any of us, who ought to have it?"

"Hmm…" Sadakaze looked thoughtful. "This blade, it cannot go to just anyone, only someone with the strength to wield it, to not be dominated by the blade. It must not be 'Kusanagi's wielder' but the 'Wielder of Kusanagi.'"

"I think you are right," Miya echoed, and Aomori nodded.

Privately Togawa agreed, but it left him puzzled, who could bear the blade? "I suppose then I will recommend Captain Saito holds the weapon. The girl Yadome should decide who will possess it, no one else. I am certain she will make the right choice."

"Hehe," Sadakaze laughed low. "That little sharp-eyed lady is an odd one, but there is something about her, I expect you're right."

"Master Togawa!" a bright voice called from the right.

The four jounin turned to see one of the Shinobi-Ite approaching. It took Togawa a moment to figure out which one it was. He found the girls so very alike, especially when they all kept wearing the field camouflage constantly. Still, the blond hair in tight buns on the side head helped. It marked this one as Mikiko, one of the second team. "What is it girl?" he demanded.

"Nanami has come back," the girl, breathing easily despite having clearly run in from the perimeter some hundreds of meters distant, spoke with enthusiasm. "We've found them at last!"

"Really?" Miya had jolted to her feet, and her brilliant spear was in her hand. "Where?"

"Patience," Togawa put a hand out in front of her. "Captain Saito wishes to see us then?"

"Yes sir," Mikiko replied. "You all are requested to join the planning session. Now, please excuse me, I have to get back to the perimeter, I have the watch while you all meet." She turned smartly and headed off, jogging swiftly with bow in hand.

"They are so surprising," Sadakaze shook his head. "And so fiercely earnest. The combat skills are one thing, but that level of commitment…just how did he do it?" the jounin's fan flashed before his eyes. "Just how indeed?"

"Perhaps that's why he's the Raikage and you're not," Aomori hit with the not so subtle dig and Sadakaze's gaze narrowed behind his fan.

"Stow it," Togawa admonished. "This is principally their mission not ours; keep your opinions to yourselves. We have work to do now."

They nodded, but the veteran did not like the looks he saw with his lightning eyes. His team consisted of proud ninja, and they did not like being shown up by these young women. The news that two of the Akatsuki had been slain was bad enough, but Yadome's killing of Orochimaru was a dark poison inside them. He could feel it himself in some ways, the need to achieve something real on this expedition, to not be a lure only. He intended to make certain the next engagement was one they took part in.

The four jounin left the sword to lie and went over to the firepit in the center of this very rough camp. There Saito had unrolled a large map on the flattest spot of ground available. He knelt next to it now, resting on a long stick for support, his age telling from the hard traveling of the past few days. With him were four of the Shinobi-Ite, Yadome, Nanami, Arisa, and Kina, the leaders of their little teams. Togawa had expected all this, but the sixth figure was more puzzling. He had been introduced to Tsune only once in Cloud, and had barely recognized her when she showed up here. The ama's presence puzzled him; he could not determine why she had not been sent home. The jounin accepted that the young nun had been instrumental in eliminating the one called Hidan, but she was a liability now, unable to easily keep pace or maintain stealth with the ninja. He wanted her gone, and soon, but all the snipers seemed to believe there was a real reason for her presence here. It angered him.

"Ah, Master Togawa," Saito looked up as the jounin approached. "It seems Mikiko found you well. Have you come to a decision regarding Kusanagi?"

"We have," Togawa spoke quickly, not wanting to waste time. "You keep it for now, when Yadome finds someone worthy of it, she can give it to them. That's all."

"I see," it was not clear if this was the answer the Captain had desired. "Tsune," he spoke to the nun. "When we're done here please seal up the sword as best you can, I want it as secure as possible."

"Of course," the nun's reply was ready to please.

"So where are they?" Togawa demanded, pushing into place next to the map. The other three jounin were left to stand behind him, but he didn't care much.

"Here," Nanami struck a spot on the map with the head of an arrow, the metal barb making a precision tear. "There's a major industrial complex here, one that was almost completed but never finished. Apparently something bad happened to all the investors, I inquired but the locals don't know who was responsible, there's half a hundred theories."

"It probably doesn't matter," Arisa noted, speaking carefully. "Whether the Akatsuki took it for themselves or made use of something others had left to lie, the circumstances are the same are they not?"

"Essentially they are I imagine," Captain Saito confirmed. "How did you find them Nanami?"

"As you know we had sightings of Kisame all through here, and he was supposedly seen carrying a heavy burden, about the size of a human body," Team one's leader began. "We tracked the sightings and narrowed down a precision area. Once that happened we just had to track shipments of supplies. We actually got lucky, it seems someone takes food out once a week or so, and we managed to tail the shipment. It takes the abandoned construction road, there's no where else they could be."

"Hmm…" Saito murmured. "You're sure they're there?"

"I'm sure," Nanami repeated. "The sightings are many; everybody around here has seen those cloaks. They have to be operating close by, and that's the only suitable site. Couple that with the mysterious supply shipments and it's got to be them. Oh, and the shipments really are mysterious, Shiori eavesdropped on the drivers talking, it seems they just leave their shipment there and it unloads itself, something that would take a loading crew."

"Bushin no jutsu…" Arisa muttered.

"Quite," Yadome spoke for the first time. "It seems this part is done. Now we must plan an attack."

"Wait," the lovely blond-haired Kina, who Togawa had seen never take her eyes from the map during the conversation, spoke up. "This may be a trap."

"A trap?" Several spoke at once. Togawa simply watched Kina behind his flickering eyes. The sniper had begun to run her hand slowly through her hair. The elite jounin thought this a rather odd thing to be doing, since the movement could clearly be used for erotic purposes. He wondered what this little quirk meant. The snipers were usually devoid of any such tendencies.

"The reports are too good," Kina continued. "The supplies too easy to track. Only one major scouting effort and we know their base. It's too easy."

"But these fools never hide themselves," Sadakaze spoke from above. "It seems merely typical of their nature."

"They aren't this foolish," Kina's rejoinder was immediate. "There's no way they would have survived for so long if their base was so easily found. I think they wanted us to find it."

"Why?" Togawa spoke one word only. He suspected no more would be needed.

"We tried to flush them out," Kina explained. "We disrupted their plans, killed two of their members, and we did it easily, that's the most important part."

"They can't replace the dead," Arisa commented.

"Right," Kina continued. "They recognize that someone has brought a force against them that can destroy one of their traveling pairs. They don't have enough members to risk any more."

"Not someone," Saito said carefully. "They know exactly who has done this, or at least they think they do."

Togawa couldn't help but laughing, enjoying the hideous crackle his mask produced to fill the moment. "They want to eliminate us, the very best of Cloud. It's perfect for them, kill their pursuers, and make a statement to all their enemies at the same time. Bring the best you have, we don't care."

"Arrogant fools," Miya spat above them. "They think we wouldn't see through such a thing?"

"Doubtful," Kina spoke again. "Oh, some of them might, Kisame, Diedara, or the two we have slain, but whoever is master of this group is no fool. However, they must think it doesn't matter. Even if we are aware and avoid an ambush, they know we can't resist the chance to attack. They must have gathered together. They'll expect Master Togawa's team, perhaps even that you might call in allies, but they think that they can destroy all that."

"They could be right you know," Nanami spoke carefully. "These are powerful people, Hidan and Kakuzu seemed fearless, and they must have had reason."

"They're only right when they think of conventional ninja," Saito said firmly. "They haven't figured it out yet, and even if they had, it wouldn't matter. We've seen through their trap, so we'll create one of our own. Two can play the information game."

"What do you mean Captain?" Arisa asked.

"They expect an attack, but that's not how to use snipers. Instead we'll conduct a siege," Saito smiled slowly. "Ninja haven't sieged anything since the great wars, but the Raikage remembered the tactic. We'll create a ring, surround their base, halt the supplies, and then wait."

"Starve them out?" Aomori wondered in obvious surprised. "But they could have food for months."

"You only heard the first part of the Captain's plan," Kina interjected, amusement dancing in her sharp eyes. "How much time they have won't matter. We set the ring, and then we force them to break it."

"How do we do that?" Aomori asked, obviously confused. Togawa was wondering himself, but he thought he could begin to see the plan.

"We leak the location to the Leaf don't we?" Kina asked Saito.

"That's right," the old man smiled cunningly. "We leak it and we make sure they know. The Leaf wants blood, and so do their allies in Sand. They'll bring a hundred ninja, and the Akatsuki can't stand against that. They'll have to try and break free of us and when they do we can pick them off."

"A bold plan Captain," Togawa said, comprehending it all now. "Still, it has risks. To form this ring we'll have to disperse our force. If seven s-level criminals push one point of it I don't like anyone's chances."

"Master Togawa," Yadome's voice was ice cold. "No matter who they are, when my sisters and I set up a shooting gallery we won't be overwhelmed. Some may escape, but we can crush them here. Besides, you're here to help are you not?"

Togawa met the cold eyes of Yadome, and in that instant the fight he had conducted with this young woman flashed through his eyes again. Doubt vanished slowly; he was looking at the slayer of Orochimaru. It would indeed be possible. "Very well," he said carefully. "But we must make sure to plan every contingency on their escape, and have many responses available. What is the terrain like around this complex?"

"Mostly young forest," Nanami replied. "It was all logged about twenty years ago."

"Hmm…" Kina's hand moved through her hair again, and the ninja of Hidden Cloud got down to work.

Chapter Notes:


	17. Incident 16 Within the Ring

**Incident 16 – Within the Ring**

**River Country – Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Two Days Later**

"Kill them! Kill them! Going to kill them all and eat their flesh! Eat it slowly!" Zetsu howled again, his murderous personality raging as it had so often in the past twenty-four hours.

"Shut up!" Kurame hissed, trying to make plotting on a map. "Just tell me where it was this time."

"Grr…watch your mouth bitch!" Zetsu spat. "I might just eat you for this!" The freakish plant man advanced toward her.

Kurame made no moves. "You would reduce our numbers to six?" she questioned. "Not very smart, to further tilt the odds against us, given the circumstances." She raised an eyebrow just a tiny amount.

"Maybe I don't-" Zetsu hissed, and then shook. "Really, Byaku," his voice had changed, becoming smoother, indicating his other, more stable personality was now in control. "You cannot expect me to keep dying for you. I'll play nice, but having to reconstruct a body again and again isn't easy."

"I'm aware of that," and indeed Kurame was most thoroughly aware of this aggravation. "But no one else can manage any intelligence at all in this mess, so we're stuck with you."

"Then give me a treat and tell me you've finally charted it, will you nice lady?" Zetsu's pleading was coy and amusing, but knowing that half his mind thought of humans as a primary food source made it only disgusting.

"Tell me where this one was and maybe I have," Kurame instructed.

Zetsu pointed a long-nailed finger onto the map, indicating yet another point. Kurame marked it, and examined it in reference to all the others. "Yes," she said. "I believe we've gathered enough information. Now we may have some options." She rolled up the map quickly. "Come on, we need to go see the others."

The plant-man followed Kurame through the battered halls of the complex, ignoring the drafts and shifts in the air she took pains to dodge lest they ruin her hair.

Kurame walked with a direct and forceful pace, conscious, even if the others were not, that time was precious now. As it was, she almost crashed into Tobi as he rounded a corner.

"Whoa!" the boyish masked-member barked. "Little close huh?"

"Stow it brat," Kurame hissed, not in the mood to adopt her coy mask. "Follow us, there's plenty to be done."

The rest of the group was already in Rei's little office when they arrived. He stared down at them from his throne-chair with cold eyes as the three entered.

"I'm assuming that since you've finally decided to show your face you have something useful Byaku," he began darkly.

Kurame knew he was in a bad mood, they all were; it was never good when plans went bad. Rei had it worse than she did though. Her only problem was Zetsu, and at least half of him was reasonable. Rei had to restrain the fools more or less by himself. It couldn't be easy, not with the likes of Kisame and Deidara involved. Itachi probably wasn't a picnic either, that Uchiha boy seemed to think he was invincible.

"I have determined their deployment," Kurame explained, and rolled the map out on the floor. "It's roughly a triangular pattern," she launched in to her explanation without giving the others time to object. "Three groups forming the points. They move about of course, and the whole form seems to shift at irregular intervals, though I'm sure they got some implanted pattern to follow. There's also a random element moving about with the group, essentially a roving team. That one is even harder to isolate than the others. Beyond this there's a support group behind it, at least a full platoon, Zetsu's only managed to get brief glimpses, but they seem to move in a full circle periodically."

Everyone else was silent, but Rei interrupted. "How many in total?"

Kurame had puzzled over this for a long time, but she finally had an answer. "There's three or four apiece in each of the three triangle groups, the roving element is one or two only, add a four-man platoon to that plus a command unit of one or two and it's somewhere between fifteen and twenty all told."

"Only that many?" Itachi grumbled. "Why are we stuck in here then?"

"Quiet," Rei snapped, annoyed. "I want Kurame to explain why we can't just go out and crush them."

"When we initially detected the approach I counseled caution, as you know," Kurame reiterated what they all knew. "I said Zetsu should spy them out before we made any false moves. Everyone should not have forgotten that he managed all of five seconds above the surface before he got blown to fragments, without getting more than a glimpse of the ones out there. I think the people we detected were only the support platoon, Kazumasu Togawa's unit; we still haven't managed to get a clear visual profile of any of the other four groups. I've had a bunch of tricks tried, bushins, smokescreens, light-bombs, all to no avail. These enemies have very solid countermeasures in place for almost any tactic."

"You said we'd draw in the enemy and ambush them!" Kisame growled. "You were wrong about that, so why should we believe you now."

Kurame shook her head, exasperated at the shark-man's blindness, but she saw the look on Rei's face. He wanted her to explain that as well, he never liked failure.

"Understand this," Kurame began, using a solemn tone she almost never spoke in. "If this was a normal enemy, no matter how elite, they would have had to come in at us, whether they saw the trap or not. Normal ninja simply cannot surround a base like this, not unless there are dozens of them. However, our enemy is not normal, they aren't like anything we've ever faced, anything anyone has faced in a hundred years or more, perhaps never at all. Our opponents are trained precisely to kill from extreme range and without any warning. All their attacks kill at a distance where we can hardly detect them. It's a tactical advantage so massive as to be overwhelming. This is a new thing, one I admit I failed to predict," she grimaced, distorting her lovely features into feral rage. "But now that I am seeing it, analyzing it I can understand what we face, and if you ignore my advice you will die just as Hidan and Kakuzu did!"

Kurame could tell from shifts in posture that they were not convinced, and not only did this anger her, it caused her a very real fear. If they did not believe her, if they tried to react in a standard fashion, everything she had worked toward would be lost.

"Smart girl," support came from an unexpected source. "It makes sense really," Zetsu continued. "Nobody kills me twenty-seven times without being able to do something this crazy."

"Your point is taken," Rei said at last. "But I have one question, how is this possible? How can someone hold such an advantage over us?"

This question had been one to trouble Kurame as well; it eroded everything she had believed in to be so overmastered, to be forced into a position of inferiority by some small number of foes. The answer, when it came, had been better. "This situation, it does not exploit our weakness, it exploits the weakness of all ninja," she stressed the inclusiveness. "I can see what has happened. This is the work of the Raikage of Cloud, a man who thinks differently from most others, who sees everything in terms of the battlefield. He found a weakness, this weakness against the unseen attack, and devised a way to exploit it. He has cunning of a sort, and a willingness to take risks. So, he made a great gamble, he took a group of youths, and molded them, forming them into the weapons to exploit this weakness he had seen. It must have been done in complete secrecy, no one else would have supported something so radical," Indeed, Kurame admired the man's audacity in undertaking this project; he had set the stakes terribly high, and had managed to come out on top. "Think about what I am saying, ten to fifteen children, molded for a decade under the watchful eye of a Kage and those he trusted the most. What could any of us accomplish in such a situation? What could we create? That is what we are facing. A unit bred to exploit our most glaring flaw, backed by some of the best jounin a hidden village has to offer. The march was stolen on us."

"Very good Byaku," Rei clapped softly, idly, mocking her, and yet not. "You have dissected the nature of the foe well, but have you a means to counter them?"

"In this situation…" Kurame let the words linger. "No, I do not."

"Explain," Rei demanded.

"We are well trapped, and time is against us," she laid out the circumstances they should all understand by now. "We intercepted the radio signal that revealed our location, a signal that was deliberately designed to be intercepted. I guarantee Konoha and Suna know where we are. It is a matter of days only before we face overwhelming forces screaming for our heads. Given time I could devise a way to crush this triangle entrapping us, but as things stand we cannot destroy it."

"Do you think we are defeated then?" Itachi's remark was snide.

The blue-haired kunoichi ignored the barb, simply confirming for herself that Itachi was truly a madman. "Defeated?" Kurame turned the word back at him. "Defeat is relative. Can we win in this place, no, but we can escape easily enough. I have several plans ready to cut through this ring with little trouble. We will lose this place, but what of it, the value of this pile of concrete and piping in minimal, and we will have gained essential information on this new foe. Once we have become removed from their sight we can hunt them down."

"So," Rei's eyes bored into her. "You counsel that we flee from here then?"

"I would use the term withdraw," Kurame replied, somewhat bitter. "But I see no other options, at least not any which do not too greatly risk our lives. We can ill-afford to lose anyone at this point."

"I'm not going to just turn tail and run!" Kisame's words slashed through the air. "No way!"

"Yeah…" Deidara spoke finally. "We can't do that, it's not elegant at all, and too embarrassing."

"What would you do then?" Kurame snapped back at the mad artist.

"Well…yeah…" she watched as the unfortunate failed to come up with any good ideas, as she had expected. Deidara might be a brilliant artist, if you agreed with his freakish tastes, and could match wits with a direct opponent fairly well, but greater strategy eluded him.

"You have made good points Byaku," Rei's words silenced everyone. "But the others are correct that we cannot simply retreat from this place without damaging our foes. That will only encourage them, making everything more difficult in the future. So, if we cannot crush the ring, we must still slash at it as we depart from here."

Kurame debated saying anything for a moment, and then decided to remain silent. She had said her piece. It was all out of her hands now. Instead, she would devote her energies to making certain that whatever was decided, she remained alive through this.

"Seems reasonable," Zetsu echoed. "So how do we strike back?"

"There are two things we will do," Rei spoke slowly, his voice low, conspiratorial. Kurame felt the influence of his charisma, his personality washing over them. He could say almost anything now and the others would likely believe it, they wanted to believe him, and they wanted a chance to close with the enemy. Hearing this, Kurame realized something. It wasn't just range that the Raikage had exploited; he had gone deeper, cutting at one of the deepest facets of the ninja in the era of villages: their pride. Arrows in the darkness did not send ninja running for cover and retreat, no, it sent them charging in counterattack. Pride and confidence, instilled in the contest riddled world of the ninja where only the most utterly superior, the totally dominant, reached the heights, seeped deep into them all. They were drowning in their pride, and they, the Akatsuki, were the worst of all. _Our hubris is our destruction_, Kurame saw in that moment. It was something only the weakest of the Kages, the one who was not really a Kage, could have possibly seen. Damn him!

"First, we will escape, but as we do a unit will double back, ambushing the hunters. It won't matter that we cannot see them precisely, since we will simply annihilate everything," Rei's voice was cold and steady, but hunger surged in it. "You understand don't you Deidara?"

"Yeah…" the mad artist laughed. "I got it, and Tobi can deflect any counters they try. Perfect."

Kurame was barely listening now, having her eyes opened to a greater truth she could now see a greater range of possibilities than ever before, and could feel the touch of hubris in everything. Tobi to deflect all counters, of course, it made perfect sense, after all that was his power, but this was the world of the ninja, there were no absolutes, and to bet on one was madness.

"The second step will be another simple thing," Rei explained. "They have not come to face us, because they think the Leaf can clean up anything they fail, but there is one thing they can't leave to the Leaf."

"The demon-girl," Kisame hissed. "It's Cloud, and they have to get her back, so we make them come to us."

"Exactly," Rei confirmed. "You and Itachi will do it. Remain by the cells with our prize. Someone will come to claim her. In there sniping will not be useful, so you can destroy whoever should come."

This plan too began to come apart in Kurame's mind the moment it was spoken. It relied on splitting the enemy. It was likely that would work, but if it did not Itachi and Kisame could well be lost. Indeed, even if it did, their foes were not fools. They would send someone capable into that darkness, and a bloodless victory was unlikely.

The sky had turned dark upon the blue-haired kunoichi. Everything seemed in flux. She could see now that she had linked herself to a cause predicated on the flawed assumptions of hubris. How could nine challenge five nations? How had she agreed to it? Looking back now she remembered, and knew, and in that past she saw fear.

It had been the dark and subtle whispers of Orochimaru and Sasori who had helped found the Akatsuki. They had let Rei draw them in, with his dreams of conquest. Those three, mighty ninja secure in their immortality, for each was, in his own way, beyond death, had made great plans. Envisioning it now Kurame could hear the seduction in those voices, the deception, and she could discern with perfect clarity the illusion that had doomed them. To one who believes death conquered, all other fears are reduced, and denial takes over, even as the true fear grows stronger. An immortal is terrified of death in a way no mortal is. This worms into them and they lose track of the motives of mortals, they think of everyone else in the same way they do. They are also correct, mostly. Almost every time each and every person will place their own survival foremost, but eventually you find one who does not, and for those the mad gamble on the roulette wheel may just come true, and blinded by hubris they will not hedge their bets against it, and therefore fall.

"Are there any objections?" Rei asked, and Kurame knew just as she was sure he did, that there would be none.

When silence ensued, he spoke again. "Then we must make ready. Gather the things you most need. Byaku, find us a route that we can take from here, one leading north. We will head to another place I have prepared, in the northern Rain country."

Kurame nodded, standing perfectly still. Her mind still reeled with the force of her revelations. She needed to make a decision. _Do not hesitate!_ This was creed she lived by, trust intuition and experience to make decisions, and follow through to the lethal end. She could see now, with the terrible crystal-clear vision of hindsight, that she had hesitated upon joining the Akatsuki, and not trusted her initial impulse to avoid this scheme. Yet now she had a quandary. What do to? The kunoichi was well-aware of her situation. She was part of the Akatsuki now, even if it might soon be destroyed. The Raikage's creation was trailing them, and even if she had grasped the nature of their great potency, it did not make them less of a threat.

In a flash of insight Kurame recognized what she must do. The pursuers from Cloud must be destroyed; the power of the Akatsuki must be harnessed for this purpose, even if the organization should die in the process. After that a new path could be found through the storm, for now she would ride along with this, and find the moment to bring make certain all the folly of the past was swept clear. A long glance passed over the other six members of the Akatsuki, smug in their red cloud cloaks, and then Kurame's gaze turned back to the map. It was time to find a route, and let those who would not survive enjoy their fate.

Chapter Notes:


	18. Incident 17 Heart of the Explosion

**Incident 17 – Heart of the Explosion**

**River Country – Near an Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Immediately Following**

They had waited for it, but it was impossible to avoid a moment of chaos when their foes finally made the inevitable move.

"I have multiple moving targets!" Chiyuki's voice jolted over the short range radios. "Confirm: they're real, not bushins! Real! This is it!"

With those words there was a burst of motion at disparate locations, as resting watchers pulled off dampening blankets, bows were strung, and ninja streaked from unready to ready in the space of instants.

"Spotter, what's the course?" Saito, his voice raw as if he'd just been torn from a nap, demanded.

"Ah…north-northwest," Chiyuki managed after a moment. "I count…five, repeat, five of them. It's a loose arrangement."

"Sierra-India-Two, Three, and Four," Saito called out the rest of the groups. "Abandon survey positions and move to pursue. Spotter, maintain visual contact but do not engage. We should be able to pin them all."

"They're moving awfully fast command," Nanami, looking through her binoculars now, was able to spot flickers of black moving through the trees. "There may not be enough time." She wasn't sure, still being a bit groggy, but it looked like the enemy was just making a run for it to her.

"Then they're trying to force our hand, make us attack," this was Kina's voice, accompanied by a rush of wind as she was clearly leaping through the trees in a hurry. "They must have some kind of defense in place."

That made sense to Nanami. Moving as fast as only truly skilled ninja could go, it would only be possible to get a few shots off. If you had some kind of deflection jutsu in place, you could just block everything. "That has to drain a lot of chakra though," Nanami noted. Keeping any effect active for the long term, especially moving, could drain you dry in no time.

"Then they are expecting us not to pursue," Saito noted. "But we will. Sierra-India-One, let them pass you, but follow at a safe distance. Everyone else, rendezvous as soon as possible. If they are maintaining a jutsu, they'll tire quickly."

"Wait, what about the other two?" Nanami could tell there were only five, seeing them run. "We're missing Kisame and one other."

"They're still inside," this voice was unfamiliar, and eerily calm. It took Nanami a moment to recognize it as the nun, Tsune, who had only been given a headset yesterday upon request. "I can sense the energy still there, the demon remains with them."

"It's a trap then," Arisa, like Kina her voice distorted by wind, chimed in. "They want us to split up. We shouldn't."

"It's not a matter of wants," Saito explained. "If they've kept Yugito we need to retrieve her, we can't let the Leaf mop this up. It's a cold move on their part, but a good one."

"Do we avoid pursuit?" Nanami asked. To her it seemed like the best option, gather everyone together to kill another pair, and let the five go. They could keep whittling them down at leisure.

"Don't waste your chance girls," this voice was unmistakable, even over the radio, Togawa's voice crackled and hissed. "We'll handle Kisame and his buddy. Inside we still have the advantage."

"Are you certain you wish to take that risk?" Saito questioned Togawa with far more openness than Nanami would ever have dared.

"Don't underestimate me Captain," Togawa responded. "We can handle this. Now go kill the rest of them."

"Very well," Saito answered. "Everyone, speed is essential now!"

Something flickered in Nanami's eyes among the Akatsuki members before her. She didn't like it. Then the ground and trees burst apart before her eyes.

Nanami slammed to a halt against the next tree branch, dropping smoothly into a combat posture. "We're too close, they've decided to fight!" she shouted into her radio.

"No, they're still going," Yadome's voice returned. "Wait…the plant man! Two of them are duplicates."

"Defensive formation now!" Saito commanded.

The shinobi-ite, twelve strong now with the Captain among them, fell out into a loose circular formation. Their bows and arrows were ready, eyes sharp.

"This doesn't make sense," Kina said over the radio after a moment. "Doubling back with two won't work; we hold all the advantages in such a case. It only makes sense if they can attack through or beyond our defenses."

"How can they do that?" Arisa wondered aloud over the link. "We can cover all points and they don't have anything to match our range. Even if they did, they'd only hit one of us, its suicide."

It was logical, but Nanami didn't like it. She'd seen these Akatsuki do some impossible things, and wasn't ready to rule anything out. There would have to be some vulnerability they weren't considering. "What if they came from below? Or…"

"Above!" Yadome's voice shot over the radio.

Eleven pairs of eyes turned to see something unexpected. A massive bird of white flashed through the sky, ridden by two cloak-covered beings. Nanami recognized one of them, Deidara, the mad artist of Iwa. The other was one of the unidentified members. The pair was well above them, out of the range of any shot, even Yadome's.

A moment later Deidara struck the other Akatsuki member and the image burst apart in a puff of smoke. Nanami recognized the ruse immediately; the other was trying to sneak in. She turned her gaze to look for him, but there was no time before she was interrupted.

"I have you now!" Deidara howled, screaming at the top of his lungs to be heard. "Try my ultimate blast number eighteen!"

A small bird, cloaked in energy, streaked out from Deidara, falling with brutal speed toward the group.

"Shoot it down now!" Saito ordered, the old man's voice filled with sudden panic greater than any Nanami had ever heard from him.

Arrows reached up into the sky, perfectly aimed, but the bird was not simply falling, it dodged and weaved and avoided them, slipping along the wind without difficultly. A few tried to lead it, but they failed.

"The height's too much!" Chiyuki's somewhat panicked voice came. "We don't have any velocity!"

"We should break!" Arisa shouted.

"Die little fools!" Deidara's laughter seemed to ring in their ears.

"It won't work," Captain Saito's voice was suddenly soft and composed. "This was my mistake, we shouldn't have pursued like this." The soft voice grew, so the radio connection was no longer necessary to here. "Girls, make sure you kill them both!" Saito raised his head and his bow. "As for you…you have won nothing! Kinjutsu: Kanyuudoudan!"

An arrow leapt from the old ninja's bow, flying as fast as any from Yadome's despite his diminished strength and simpler tool. Chords of gray wrapped about it, flowing back to Saito's body, and a low groan pealed through the forest.

Deidara's strange bomb attempted to dodge, but the rules of arrow flight did not apply to the captain's missile. It spun about in midair and tracked unerringly to its target.

"It won't save you!" Deidara howled. "You're already in the blast radius!"

"I told you…" the old jounin's voice was strained but triumphant. "You've won nothing!"

The arrow struck. There was the briefest glimpse of a massive burst of flame, and then all was coated in gray. Dark coils wrapped around the whole in the air, and it seems as if a piece of the sky was being swallowed. All stood transfixed.

All save Kina. "Eisai!" she barked, running toward her brother. "Lift!"

The young man snapped out of his thrall and threw his bow aside. Linking both hands together he bent smoothly at the knees.

Kina leapt toward him in just the right measure.

Eisai's strong arms came up beneath his sister's foot, and all his strength and chakra hurled her into the air.

Nanami watched as Kina spun, and then in a motion that involved no sight, but only the timing of her spin and the motion of Deidara's bird, snapped her bowstring.

A slender arrow of flame, furious in its speed, intercepted Deidara's path.

The entire gray mass vanished, the eyes of the shinobi-ite traveled down to their Captain.

The vision was one of calm horror. The dark gray of the air had invested Saito's leathery flesh. All his essence seemed to have flown out, and as they watched he slowly crumpled to the ground. Not falling, no, it was just there was no longer anything to support him.

Deidara's laughter peeled over the air. The Akatsuki had not paid any attention to what Kina had done. She was in any case, behind his line of sight.

The dart of flame connected, burning through the back of his dark cloak to streak across the back of the waistline, where the mad artist kept his equipment.

Deidara's laughter stopped.

A massive roar, loud as anything any of the snipers had ever heard, rolled across the sky, and a second sun bloomed beneath the clouds for a long moment.

"Hehe, ouch," a voice intruded. Ten pairs of eyes snapped toward it. "Oh, whoops."

Nanami saw the other Akatsuki up close for the first time. He wore a strange mask, whirling about his face, and apparently had only one eye.

Arrows traveled to meet that eye immediately after he spoke.

A single kunai appeared in the Akatsuki's hand, and slashed each dart aside with almost cynical ease.

Watching this through her sight, Nanami couldn't believe it. There had been nine arrows, all from different angles and at slightly different times. There was no way to block them all, the pattern of hand motion would have to be perfect, and you'd have to predict what was coming with utter exactitude. Even Yadome couldn't do what had just been done, not all at once.

"Hehe, too bad little ladies," he quipped. "It won't work on Tobi. Guess I'll get going then."

An arrow sprouted from the back of his skull, and the barb burst out through his mask, a lurid, sickening hole.

"B-but…" this boyish criminal called Tobi managed a few words. "You're all here…no illusions can t…trick me!"

A second arrow sprouted from the man, this time through the heart, and slowly the man fell backward to the ground, snapping the wood beneath him. From behind Nanami saw Mikiko emerge from the underbrush behind him, wearing nothing but the camouflage paint on her face. "See through any ninja illusion I guess, but not clothes and some fake hair on your blindside, where you couldn't gauge my movement accurately. Stupid to block your vision when facing ranged attack."

"Captain!" Arisa's voice was torn with strain.

Saito lay on his back, his body cold and barely moving. It took only a moment for the rest of the shinobi-ite, knowing the danger had passed, to cluster around him.

"Are you alright Captain?" Yadome asked quietly, procedurally.

"I'm afraid not Yadome," he replied, voice slow, whispery. "Such is the price you pay for that technique, the energy of the soul lost burns years from your life, and I haven't many to give."

"Captain, no!" Chiyuki gasped. "Please, don't…"

"Stop!" Saito managed with his old sternness. "This was my mistake here, one that jeopardized you all. When an officer does that he must pay a price, and this is my price. I will not have you blame yourselves. You have done magnificent work today."

"Then, there's nothing…" Nanami asked slowly, barely making the words come out. She could tell they were all on the edge of tears. It seemed so utterly incomprehensible, this man, their anchor for so long, their guide, their kindly uncle who had raised them so carefully, would be gone.

"There is nothing," Saito answered. "Please, grieve if you must, but do not blame yourselves, and do not come to hate for this. Only complete your mission, and kill the rest of them. Know this much, I have done many things in my life, but of you all I am the most proud, I have no regrets over you."

"Captain…" a chorus of voices spoke the words, and then the last of the light left Saito's eyes.

They did cry then, all of them, for a long time, wrapping as close together as they could. At last, Yadome stood carefully, and closed the captain's old eyes. "We cannot stay here," she said slowly, seeming unsure for the first time ever. "We need to go to the rendezvous point and meet up with the others. Tsune is there, she can help."

"Right," Nanami murmured, standing herself. It was hard, so very hard to do that. Everything seemed shrouded in fog, but it was slowly clearing, and she somehow knew it would clear, in time. "We need to figure out where things stand."

Slowly they gathered up their equipment, and the bodies of Captain Saito and the man who had called himself Tobi. Of Deidara absolutely nothing could be found. "Let's go," Yadome said when they were done.

As they headed out Nanami felt herself both confused and determined. Her world had just been shaken, deeply, a great constant was gone, but her purpose was not, if anything its strength had increased tenfold. The Captain had told them he was proud of them, she would make sure he was, they wouldn't make any more mistakes. The Akatsuki would die to the last.

Chapter Notes

'Kinjutsu: Kanyuudoudan' means, roughly: Forbidden technique, Soul-Guided Arrows


	19. Incident 18 Lightning Forks

**Incident 18 – Lightning Forks**

**River Country – Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Concurrent with Previous Chapter**

"So, we get Kisame and his as yet unidentified partner huh?" Aomori asked as the four jounin grouped together.

"Seems like it," Togawa replied. The platoon was slinking forward through the city, moving past all the half-finished structures with care, watching for any possible ambush. They were on edge, the past few days spent with the Shinobi-Ite had made them all very aware of just how easily death could come without warning, and they didn't plan to be jumped on.

Under the gray sky and metal spires they moved in tandem, looking for the place where their quarry remained.

Togawa scanned it all through crackling eyes, and finally he focused on the tall building in the center. "It's got to be there, none of these other structures are as well sealed against the elements."

"Dungeon cells you think?" Miya asked.

"Probably," Togawa decided. "Yugito's surely drugged with something nasty, you can't keep a jin captured and conscious at the same time."

"So what's the plan then?" Aomori wondered aloud. "We just go in and fight them on their ground."

"Obviously not," Sadakaze laughed, sweeping forward in his loose robes and with that fan before him. "Why would we play their game?"

"Right," Togawa smiled behind his mask. Never play the enemy's game, always your game. The fan-wielding jounin wasn't a fool, he understood. If there was anything Togawa had learned from thirty years of blood ninja service is that battle wasn't like a game. Games are decided by skill, luck, and knowledge of the rules; battles are decided by who's the best at cheating.

"Well then," Miya commented. "What do we do? We have to go pull Yugito out, and they're surely waiting."

"We need to take back our little demon bitch and then pull them out after us," Togawa replied. "In the open the advantage of numbers will give us victory."

"Seems sound," Sadakaze mused. "But how do we get them to play chase the ninja?"

"Hmm…" Togawa thought about it. He was no great strategist like the Raikage, but he was no fool. He'd seen all kinds of ploys over the years, and he had a good idea how to manipulate the minds of his enemies. It was one of the gifts of hiding your face. "I think we should force them out. Aomori, just how many explosion notes are you carrying?"

"Hahaha…" the young jounin laughed. "You want the whole industrial complex or just one building?"

"Is he serious?" Miya asked, looking over at her teammate with some surprise.

Togawa bit back a laugh; it seemed the spear-woman had not realized just how much of a walking bomb their little innovator really was. "Not quite that much," the veteran jounin informed Aomori. "Here's what we'll do…"

The subterranean passage was poorly lit. Only the occasional gas light broke up the gloom of these slender metal tunnels. There were many twists and turns as well, this whole place was something of a maze. Togawa disliked the confines, narrow passages and little room. He was certain now that fighting in this place would be a bad move. Kisame was said to be a living shark, he could flood the whole place and simply drown them out. Such a death was decidedly not in the jounin's plans. He had kept very precise mental notes of the way out, as had his companions, it would be essential in the conflict to come.

"Where are they?" Miya muttered. "We already passed one set of cells, and those were empty."

"They must have removed her to a place they felt more favorable," Aomori noted the simple conclusion as they rounded a right hand turn in the tunnels.

"We did," the voice that spoke was feral and harsh, filled with power and violence. In a flicker of time all the ninja could see the speaker, bathed in low yellow light.

Hoshigake Kisame was a massive man, powerfully built and very tall, with his blue skin and shark dead eyes he was instantly recognizable. The woman curled up on the ground behind him was equally so, the blond haired jinchuuriki Nii Yugito, a well known irritant to all four jounin that they must now save. It was the third occupant of this narrow dead end who was less recognizable. A young man, younger than Aomori for certain and perhaps barely out of his teens, with cold eyes. He looked small behind Kisame, but Togawa was not fooled. Death dripped off this youth, and the veteran could tell he was the more dangerous member of the pair.

"It seems none of the snipers came," this young man said. "Pity, we'll have to settle for these."

Sadakaze's fan snapped open before his eyes. "Settle for us? Really," he waved the fan like a mother chiding a petulant child. "Such arrogance to count the dead before they fall."

"Kazumasu Togawa, Yilosi Miya, and Enmiura Sadakaze," the young man looked at each in turn. "And one who's name is not known. Will you tell us now, just to keep things clear?" It was spoken in deadpan, the threat more than implicit, obvious.

"How about I tell you after you die instead?" Aomori quipped, flipped a kunai in his hand, and then, almost casually, tossed it at the youth.

The idle dart was snapped out of midair in a moment, but that was not the point.

Togawa jerked his legs, and smoke bombs dropped to the floor, his, and Miya's. The room filled with darkness, and there was suddenly movement everywhere.

By hearing only Togawa moved and parried a trio of kunai, knocking them away with quick moves of his pudao sword, and then sidestepped a jab to the stomach. He heard as well Miya's spear connect with the massive sword of Kisame.

"Houkouenmu no Jutsu!" Sadakaze's sibilant voice was joined by a roaring blast of air, as all the wind seemed to sweep through the tunnel, forming a shrieking face and stopping everything for a moment as it roared beyond.

In the instant clarity returned Togawa heard Sadakaze snap his fan shut. "Enmukekkai no jutsu!"

The platoon of jounin had planned this, so now a wall of shifting fog, far more solid than any simple clouds, stood halfway down the bend. Togawa's team stood with their backs to the way out, while Kisame and his partner were blocked.

"You think this will hold us?" the shark man asked.

"Nah," Aomori quipped, holding the prone body of Yugito over his shoulders, the first part of his task accomplished. "Those might though," he pointed to the back wall with his right hand.

Stuck half way up the wall was an inch-thick packet of paper, all marked with the instantly recognizable sign of an explosion note. Togawa suspected there were some forty sitting there.

"Go!" Togawa commanded, not intended to waste any more time.

The four jounin bolted backward, running back through the tunnels as fast as they could. The little trick wouldn't kill those two Togawa was certain, but it would buy the group a bit of a lead.

Not fifteen seconds later there was a massive blast from behind the platoon.

"There goes my barrier," Sadakaze noted.

"Unimportant," Togawa squeezed out the words as he ran. "Take Yugito from Aomori," he commanded. "I want him free to strike back at them if they catch up."

"As you wish," Sadakaze reached out his arms and caught the kunoichi's prone body. "Hmm, she's lost weight."

It was a mad dash through the darkness, at the kind of speeds only jounin could achieve; blasting through flickering hallways until the lights practically formed a strobe before the eyes. Yet the two Akatsuki members did not catch the Cloud jounin. Togawa suspected they weren't even trying, but had taken the offer to fight out in the open. It was an arrogant decision, one that mocked him, to take his field of battle. Behind lightning eyes Togawa swore they'd regret that mockery with their lives.

In the front of the building there was a large open space. It would do for a battlefield, a world of metal and lacking in mercy.

The four ninja exited the building and spread out, turning about to await the emergence of their enemies.

"Miya, Aomori, I want you to kill Kisame," Togawa ordered. "I'll see if I can't blind our little friend and finish him quick."

"Fine," Miya nodded. "I'd rather play with the shark man anyway."

There were some minutes of waiting, and the jounin easily caught their breath and stood ready. Miya held her long and brilliant spear before her, Aomori stood somewhat behind and to the right with a kunai in each hand. Sadakaze waited to the back holding the prone Yugito. Togawa stared down the length of his blade, waiting.

The two stepped through the doors easily, Kisame carrying the massive blade Sameheda down easy in his right hand, while the other was unarmed.

Togawa never hesitated. A twitch of facial muscles and a blast of blinding light burst from his mask. He darted forward at the same moment, going for a brutally swift stab on the young Akatsuki. To his left Miya followed, having anticipated this move.

Yet their foes were unhindered. Kisame laughed, and snapped Sameheda around to slam the broad blade into Miya. The spearwoman shifted and let the force slide her back, coming up to guard.

The youth simply looked at Togawa, staring into his crackling mask, and then blinked.

When his eyes opened they were red and black.

A kunai met the stab with perfect precision, and a wickedly faster counter followed. Togawa barely got back in time, his habergeon grazed by the steel point. He skidded back and away, recognizing this snake-quick enemy, and more importantly the deadly eyes. Those were familiar to him.

"Red devil," Togawa spat.

"Oh?" the boy shrugged. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

Kisame and Miya swirled about behind them as the two faced off.

"Stay put witch!" the shark-ninja howled, swinging the massive sword around with almost impossible ease. Miya dodged and weaved with equal sureness, but in a moment was forced into a full on block as Kisame seized his blade in two hands and brought it down with even greater speed.

Steel rang against steel, a clarion call of battle across the metal maze they occupied.

"Witch!" Kisame growled. "My Sameheda should smash your toy to splitters!"

"A toy?" Miya mocked. "You call my Tonbogiri a toy shark-man? We shall see who has the better weapon."

"Miya," Togawa ordered, circled about his formidable opponent. "Put some distance between us. This one's an Uchiha."

"Damn!" Miya muttered between blows, as Aomori moved about looking for an opening. "Right!"

The pair of combatants moved off to the right, skipping over one building and out of sight in a furious exchange of blows, as Aomori's kunai forced Kisame block for the barest instant, sparing Miya a deadly cut.

Togawa put that fight out of his mind at that point. Miya and Aomori would have to fend for themselves. "Sadakaze!" he called. "Take Yugito and go. Don't get involved here."

"You sure?" the fan-wielding jounin asked. "I don't think you can handle him alone."

"I can," Togawa growled, though he was not sure himself. "But you'll only be a liability if you stay. Get going!"

"Very well," Sadakaze swirled his fan and vanished in a whorl of fog.

"How noble, to sacrifice yourself for your companions," the Akatsuki smirked.

"Sacrifice?" Togawa spat. "Keep dreaming. You should know I've killed your kind before Uchiha Itachi."

"So you do know me," Itachi started to step to the left as Togawa continued to circle about right.

"Sure," the jounin's voice was filled with amusement. "You did us a great favor, going mad and turning on you family, cleaned out that whole nest of red devils. So, hail Uchiha Itachi, last of the Uchiha."

"Last?" Itachi's eyes narrowed. "You are sadly misinformed."

"Am I?" Togawa laughed openly now, forcing it. "You are the one who's misinformed. You're thinking about your brother right, the little boy called Sasuke?" Togawa caught the recognition in those red orbs. "Such a shame really, he's dead."

"What?" Itachi's words seemed to escape his control. "You lie!"

"Lie? I'm afraid not," Togawa answered, knowing his plan was working. It seemed the madman had held on to some attachment with his brother. "I saw the head myself. It had a big arrow all the way through it. It made a nice set along with that Kabuto's and Orochimaru's. Pity I didn't get to do it myself."

Itachi was visibly seething. "It seems I'll have to kill you all then."

"You're welcome to try," Togawa quipped back. "But when I finish with you here that'll be the end of all Uchiha. Good riddance."

"Scum!" Itachi charged with a kunai in each hand.

Togawa blocked, barely, the Uchiha had devil speed and the sharingan to match. The jounin whipped his blade about with all his skill to knock those barbs away. Still it was obvious the Uchiha wasn't thinking clearly when Togawa kicked out his left foot and tripped him over.

Itachi spun about with incredible quickness, but he still took a long narrow gash across the back. "A little too cocky are we?" Togawa chided, even as he danced away from a hideous series of counters.

"Try this!" Itachi hissed and jumped back, his hands flashing through seals with almost inhuman capability. "Katon: Hokousaku no Jutsu!"

The air was filled with chords of fire, whipping about and leaving burn streaks upon anything they touched.

Inside his mask, Togawa smiled. It was a good move, but primitive, easy to counter. "Boufou no Jutsu!" A blast of wind came up as Togawa clapped his hands together and hurled those whipping flames back toward Itachi.

With a sneer the Uchiha canceled his jutsu. "You think you're really smart don't you, Forked Bolt?" his voice was curled in its anger. "Hiding behind that mask of yours that messes with my eyes. Think you're so smart. How about you handle this!"

Itachi's eyes shifted, his pupils, black as night, seemed to spiral open to consume the rest of his eyes. A whirling, frightful image materialized there and the Uchiha laughed. "Do you know what this is? It's you doom come for you. A doom I will make all the more satisfying, for when you fall I'll rip you open." Chakra coalesced about his left arm, crackling and sparking in a manner reminiscent of Togawa's own mask. The veteran jounin knew this trick, it had been designed by somebody else, but it was no less dangerous for that. He quickly considered his options, knowing that Itachi seemed to be planning more than just the one attack.

"Now, your end Cloud scum!" Itachi all but screamed. "Tsukiyomi!"

Togawa never knew what the technique was supposed to do. He only felt a great force slam into his mask, some hideous, hostile feeling, without mass or form; it arced at him, seeking to fly into his eyes, into his mind. The attack did not hit Togawa, instead impacting on the sparkling face of his mask, and all the chakra and energy and indeed the ninja's own very image bound up in the object fought back.

The mask cracked, and Togawa was held in place as it shattered to fragments of metal, lacquer, and string, falling away completely, leaving his face bare to his enemy for the first time in over two decades.

Itachi had not waited upon the failure of his move, but had charged with it, the crackling power of chidori, the thousands birds technique developed by another, but deadly all the same. Togawa knew the jutsu, knew its weapon was speed, blocking it was impossible, because the sharingan warned of all counterattacks and they would be bypassed.

As the deadly blow came on, Togawa did something strange. He brought up his sword, and smiled.

Itachi's arm lanced around Togawa's extended blade with ease, and now only the cloud jounin's left arm remained.

That arm shot up, seeking to grab Itachi's arm, but the sharingan saw and it knew, and there was no hope.

"Wakare!" Togawa shouted.

Before the eyes of both men, Cloud jounin and Akatsuki, a phantasmal version of Togawa's arm split off from the real form, reaching out at a cross angle to the main limb, and precisely into the path of Itachi's left arm.

Phantom fingers closed about that limb, but their grasp was just as strong as if they had been real.

Togawa flipped his pudao sword over in his hand, snapping the arm back. With his left hand he grabbed tightly and pulled down and in, bringing Itachi closer and deflecting the deadly chidori down past his right hip.

The pudao sword snapped forward.

Uchiha Itachi, last of his clan, saw with his last glimpse his own body as his head spun freely through the air.

"They don't call me the Forked Bolt for nothing," Togawa remarked as the headless body fell to the ground. "And you obviously didn't pay enough attention to others' histories. I would never have survived giving the Raikiri its name if I hadn't figured out a way around it."

Togawa walked over slowly to pick up Itachi's head. He looked at the young man with a mixture of pity, contempt, and anger. "You were good fool, very good, to break my mask, but it wasn't enough. Too bad for you."

Keeping the grisly trophy Togawa jumped the nearby wall. It was time to find out what had happened to the shark man.

Miya parried the Sameheda again, feeling the force of the blow smash down her arms. She flowed with it as always, but it was wearying her. The whole battle was at an impasse. She could keep up with Kisame, but not get any blows in. Aomori's pinpricks kept rescuing her from trouble, but it wasn't enough. At the least they were keeping the man from performing any jutsu, Miya would never give him an opening for that, she knew what this shark was capable of, and didn't want anything like that to occur.

"Aomori," Miya arched out between strikes, as the younger jounin spun around her with a kunai to knock Kisame back a step. "This isn't working. Shark boy here doesn't get tired, and his skin's so tough I'm the only one getting gashed."

"Actually," Aomori remarked between quick breaths. "I've got a few too."

"Stop chatting," Kisame slammed Sameheda in a wide low arc, forcing the pair to jump back.

Miya dashed in immediately thereafter, the long point of her spear driving at Kisame's heart. He knocked the point away, but at least she had prevented him from gaining any space. "You shut up," she managed. "We're discussing how to kill you!"

"Can you hold him off for a minute?" Aomori questioned as he flipped back and threw a kunai. Kisame shifted his cloak to catch the dart and spun around Sameheda against Miya's advancing spear.

"Maybe," Miya was decidedly not confident of this. "Do you have something that'll actually kill this shark bastard? I don't think pain really matters to him."

"Well, if it works like it's supposed to…" Aomori muttered.

"You mean this is one of your crazy untested tricks?" Miya had seen the results of a few of those; they were generally good for laughs, but little else.

"Give me some credit," Aomori chided, spinning by and throwing a trio of shuriken at Kisame's feet, forcing him to sidestep back into the range of Miya's spear. Sameheda turned and spun in the shark-man's hand, making a seemingly impossible block. "But you'll have to trust me."

"Fine, just kill him!" Miya growled, feeling the weight of her Tonbogiri. If the weapon was not the masterwork it was it would never have lasted this long, but as it was she was still at a disadvantage. Kisame's Sameheda matched the reach of her spear, and his frightful shearing style gave him so many more lethal angles. Topping it all off was his strength.

"Fine, one minute then!" Aomori jumped back, pulling his shuriken pouch from behind his back into his hands.

The next minute was the longest of Miya's life. She dodged and weaved and countered, focusing all her energy on defending against Kisame's redoubled attack effort. She was only partly successful; suffering scrapes from glances by that hideous toothed blade. Then Kisame struck out straight, jabbing with the entire length of Sameheda.

Miya blocked, but she could not match the strength behind the blow. The force threw her back stumbling, tonbogiri barely safe in her grasp.

Kisame used his space wisely. "Suikoudan no Jutsu!"

The blast of water surged from somewhere within the piping nearby, hurling lethal power at Miya. She didn't have time to dodge.

"Komayari!" Miya spun the tonbogiri in her hands, twisting it in a full circle as rapidly as she could. Water slammed into that whirling guard and was hurled out to the edges, dispersing the force over a far greater area.

The power still hurled Miya to her knees and drove the breath from her lungs.

"Time to die!" Kisame advanced behind her watery blast.

"Pole-vault now!" Aomori's voice cut over the conflict. "Trust me!"

Miya couldn't comprehend such a ridiculous command, but she had no other ideas. Slamming the tonbogiri down she used its flexibility against her chakra, launching her body wildly upward. Normally this would be madness, for in uncontrolled flight she was a prisoner of her motion, a perfect target. "Aomori this had better work!"

Miya's flight rotated her, so she was able to see all that happened next.

Kisame had initially tried to slash her in two as she jumped, but had been forced to stop as Aomori hurled ten kunai, held carefully between the fingers, at the shark-man.

"Is that all?" Kisame laughed, raising his great sword to sweep them aside.

"Ichi," Aomori's fists, momentarily closed, extended the first finger of each hand.

The back end of each kunai flared, and they bolted and jerked in the air, flying about in wildly new directions.

"What?" Kisame shifted.

"Ni," Aomori's middle fingers extended.

The kunai burst apart into four pieces down obviously pre-crafted fracture lines, now buzzing through the air.

Kisame's face took on a puzzled countenance, for none of these little darts seemed to be aimed at him. Still, he began a sequence of hand seals.

"San!" Aomori's ring fingers extended.

Sparks flashed from each piece of metal to the other, suspending them in air and filling them with a massive charged. Kisame was now surrounded by the barbs, this screeching power arced over him and the shock interrupted whatever he was attempting.

"What good will this do!" he howled.

"Si!" Aomori extended the final fingers, leaving his hands open.

Every metal fragment, all forty of them, burst apart in a massive explosion. The air was suddenly filled with metal darts.

"No!" Kisame gasped.

Aomori slapped his hands together. "Jinrai no Jutsu!"

A massive blast of wind slammed across the plaza, and every metal dart was propelled with the force of a crossbow bolt.

Kisame could only scream. Miya watched from above as the Akatsuki member was transformed into a human pincushion.

She landed just as the jutsu ended. It had all happened in a few seconds.

"What the hell was that?" Miya demanded to Aomori's smirking face.

"An application of precision forging and strategic internal positioning of explosion notes," Aomori answered with a sheepish grin. "The Raikage challenged me to do more with the classic kunai explosion note combination."

"Does that have a name?" Miya wondered, severely impressed. She hated to admit it, but maybe there was something their leader's crazy innovation obsession.

"Well, this is the first time it actually worked in a field test," Aomori managed. "Bakuryuusandan perhaps?"

"Cumbersome," Miya managed. "But it'll do for now." She looked back at Kisame, now a bluish mass of blood and flesh on the pavement. "I think we can pass on collecting this head."

There was a sudden sound to the right, back in the direction from whence they had come. The pair of jounin spun about, only to see Togawa jump over the wall holding the Uchiha's head. "It seems you were successful," he said, and only upon hearing his voice did Miya realize the elite jounin's mask was gone.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I don't really know," Togawa replied to the obvious question. "It's annoying, it took a lot of work to make that mask, and I had help. Making another will probably take a few years. Still, I'll take my life instead of a few pieces of metal."

"You know," Aomori remarked. "I think you look nastier without the lightning eyes."

"Whatever," Togawa was clearly not amused. "Let's get moving. We're out of short-range contact with those deadly dolls, and I want to know what happened."

"Right," Miya was curious herself. Anything could have occurred, it would matter a great deal what had happened today. More than anything else, the spearmaster desired to know the fate of one specific cloud-cloak. "We're done here."

Chapter Notes:

Ichi, Ni, San, Si. All Aomori does here is count One, Two, Three, Four, but I felt it was more impacting to use the Japanese.

'Jinrai no Jutsu' means 'Thunderclap'

'Bakuryuusandan' means something like 'Shrapnel Burst'

'Komayari' means 'Spinning Spear'

'Wakare' means 'Fork' it's an additive maneuver Togawa can use with almost any technique, and yes, I implied that he was the one tossing the lightning bolt Kakashi cut in two with Raikiri (hey, it has to be someone)

'Katon: Hokousaku no Jutsu' means 'Chords of Fire'

'Boufou no Jutsu' means 'Stormfront'

'Houkouenmu no Jutsu' means 'Howling Fog'

'Enmukekkai no jutsu' means 'Fog Barrier'


	20. Incident 19 Hot and Cold

**Incident 19 – Hot and Cold**

**River Country – Near an Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Immediately Following**

Yadome felt strange. Her world had changed, but she was not overcome with grief or anything so common. Her fingertips felt tingly where they had brushed the captain's eyes closed. It was a strange echo sensation, something only in her mind, and yet not. It was almost unreal to look at Saito, being carried by an obviously distraught Eisai, and realize he was truly dead, not simply asleep or something similar. Still, Yadome could not feel sad, because Saito had not wanted them to feel sad. Instead she took refuge in cold pride, pride in what had happened. Their enemies had launched a very good plan to trap them, but had failed. Two more had fallen, leaving potentially as few as three. It was good progress, Yadome knew that, and was proud of it. She was also certain they would finish the task, and soon. Saito would have faded from their lives then anyway. It was not better this way, but it was simply the way it had happened. Somehow she, a creature of death, was able to accept this. It was not a particularly happy fact, but by its very nature, neither was it sad.

In time they reached the rendezvous point that had been pre-arranged. Tsune was there of course, she had proceeded directly, but Togawa and his team were also present. Yadome hadn't expected them to be back so quickly. It appeared that things must have gone well in that case. She could see that the robe-wearing jounin, Sadakaze, carried a figure, a woman Yadome vaguely recognized as Nii Yugito. She was unconscious and looked rather the worse for wear.

"Shit," Togawa said immediately upon seeing the group shuffle into the small river bend clearing. "We lost Saito huh? Damn…"

Yadome realized her attention was more broken up than she thought when she hadn't realized Togawa's mask was gone instantly. He couldn't have taken it off; he never did when others were watching, so it must have been somehow destroyed.

The other three jounin nodded slowly, their heads bowed. "Captain Saito was a good man," the youngest, Aomori mentioned. "That's a real shame."

"Tsune," Yadome asked. "Can you help Eisai?" she pointed to her brother. "And prepare what's necessary."

"Y-yes, of course," the nun replied. "I know the service, though I've never done it myself before. It will have to be very simple, I'm sorry."

"That's alright," Nanami spoke up from behind. "I think maybe that's better."

Tsune nodded without speaking, and with great care helped Eisai lower the Captain's body to the ground.

"We'll leave you to it," Togawa commanded, quickly taking charge. "Everybody let's move off, we have to discuss things."

Yadome nodded, but said nothing.

The eleven Shinobi-Ite followed the four jounin a little ways off into the woods, and settled to the ground in a stand of trees.

"I'll run this for now with the Captain gone," Togawa began. He held out his hand to forestall comments, catching Shiori and Arisa with their mouths half-open. "I know I don't command you, but for now I have seniority. We'll call the Raikage later and deal with the command issue. For now we all need to get the same story."

"Why don't you go first?" Arisa suggested from Yadome's left.

"Fair enough," Togawa replied. "We went in to the city. They left a pair there, as expected. Hoshigake Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, those were the two. We managed to kill them both and recover Yugito. I'll spare you the details."

"That means the Uchiha bloodline is dead then?" Mikiko asked quietly. All knew that strange story. It wasn't something they really regarded with sadness; the Leaf's loss was Cloud's gain in this case.

"Quite," Togawa replied. "It took some work though, that Uchiha destroyed my mask, still, a small price to pay." He gave them a cold smile, though his face seemed odd, exposed as it was, unused to expression. "The one problem we have is that Yugito's still unconscious, and we don't really know how to wake her. Still, that's a problem for the future, and maybe the nun can help some." He stopped there and looked at Yadome expectantly.

The pale sniper supposed it fell to her to talk; at least, she was the eldest among her sisters. "They doubled back on us, Diedara and a fairly young man who called himself Tobi. Diedara launched some strange attack from above we could not shoot down, the Captain recognized it, I think it must have been the one he used at Suna." They had heard that story. "The Captain used a forbidden jutsu to counter the effect, Soul-Guided Arrows. That's why he died, not enemy action. We killed the other the pair shortly after that, they clearly hadn't made any plans for failure."

Togawa absorbed this carefully. "The old man sacrificed himself for the young huh? Noble of him, I don't know if I could do something like that. Damn noble." Togawa shook his head slowly, perhaps his own expression of grief. "Anyway, that means we killed four of them today, add Hidan and Kakuzu to that and only three remain. One of them's the crazy plant man you kept killing when we surrounded this place, but we don't know the others."

"So it would seem," Yadome replied, not feeling the need to say anything more.

"Okay," Togawa shook his head again. "Three left huh? Seems we need to talk to the Raikage."

As a group they all stood, and headed over to the piled equipment that had been left there. Tsune looked up as they passed back, taking her hands from the white shroud over the captain's lying body. "Are you all done?"

"We need to speak to the Raikage," Togawa explained. "I think you should listen to."

Nanami, with shaking hands, fished out one of the long range radio units. "We still have access to one of the nearby repeaters, so contact should be good. Who will speak?"

"I'll handle it," Togawa announced. "There'll be less confusion that way."

"Right," Yadome answered, she would rather it be that way. It was probably best that the news of Saito's death came from someone else, not one of the snipers.

Togawa put the radio down on a backpack, so it was high enough everyone could hear easily. "Echo-Sierra-Sierra calling Charlie-Charlie-Alpha, reporting," Togawa began.

There was a pause. "This is Charlie-Charlie-Alpha," Naotaka's voice was clear to them all, and it was obvious to Yadome that the Raikage sensed something was wrong. He would have expected Saito to call, not Togawa. "What's your status?"

"Complicated," Togawa barked back, his own feelings frayed. "You want the good news or the bad news first?"

This wasn't exactly proper protocol, Yadome noted, but Togawa perhaps thought his rank gave him license. She knew it was unlikely to matter if anyone was listening now in any case.

"I'd prefer to know which casualties you took," Naotaka's demand was forceful, and made it very clear he could read between the lines of the conversation, even at such a great distance.

"That'd be the bad news then," Togawa quipped. "Alright," his voice turned immediately serious, and Yadome could tell the jounin was genuinely sorry about what had happened. She supposed that was reasonable, Togawa had known Saito for much of his life, had fought at his side during wars, and more. The Captain might have been their uncle and trainer, but that did not make him any less a fellow ninja to one such as the Forked Bolt. "Ukita Saito, jounin captain of Hidden Cloud, is dead."

"I see," Naotaka's voice was strained. "And the circumstances?"

"The girls were pursuing the majority of the targets, they got doubled on and the mad artist pulled his blow-the-village trick," Togawa explained, keeping to slang to obscure things somewhat, but relating the obvious meaning to the Raikage. "Saito used some nasty kinjutsu to save everyone, but it seems to have used up the rest of his life."

"Yes, I understand," Naotaka answered slowly. "Is that the only loss?"

"Yeah."

"Very well," the Raikage's voice had changed to the voice of command. "I knew that when this endeavor was begun there were likely to be some loses. We shall have to accept this. What of the enemy?"

"We eliminated four," Togawa answered. "Hoshigake Kisame, Uchiha Itachi, Deidara, and one who called himself Tobi."

"Three remain then," the Raikage confirmed. "And the line of the Uchiha is ended. Very good. What of our captive?"

"We've got her and she seems okay, but she's unconscious. We're still working on that part," Togawa went on.

"Very well, do what you can with that. When she does wake up I will want to speak with her," it was not a request. "Now, what about the remaining three targets? Are you all willing to continue this effort without Captain Saito?"

Togawa turned around to look at everyone. He turned to his three team members first. "You guys?"

Miya answered for them. "Why are you even asking?"

"Heh," Togawa nodded, and then looked to the Shinobi-Ite. "Then I guess it's all of you."

Yadome looked at her siblings, searching their faces, those she knew so well. The question was telling, to go on without the Captain to lead them. It would be different than before. They had served missions autonomously in the past and even during this mission as they broke up into teams, but that was not the same. Things had changed and a new voice would have to guide them now. Still, none of them hesitated; there was no need for speech or discussion. The Captain had wanted them to finish this, so they would. "We are ready." Yadome answered.

Togawa nodded, having clearly expected the same. "It looks like everyone's on board. We don't want to let the last of them get away."

"I'm glad," Naotaka replied. "However, this means there must be a new mission commander. The Shinobi-Ite requires a Captain, and they will command the conclusion of this effort. You understand that Echo-Sierra-Sierra?"

Togawa didn't look happy but he answered. "I understand. So who commands?"

There was another pause, and then the Raikage spoke surprising words. "Saito did not leave any clear instructions. Therefore the Shinobi-Ite is authorized to chose its own commander, who will then be evaluated at the conclusion of this mission. Take your time, but tell me when you're ready."

Yadome looked at her sisters, and then, at some unspoken signal, they all shifted into a circle, facing each other. There was silence.

"So, any nominations?" Nanami asked after no one else spoke.

Ten faces shifted to stare at Yadome. She looked back at them all, her ten siblings, the ones closest to her, and was saddened. She had expected this, somehow, but she did not want it. "No," she whispered at first. It was somehow impossibly hard to say the words. "No," she repeated. "It should not be me. I cannot lead you; we are not all the same." She had never said anything crueler, and it was difficult, unbelievably so to say it now, but it was the truth. "And I am not the one who can lead you."

They all stared at her, and Yadome knew this was not as they had expected. She had been their guardian for a long time, the best of them, indeed the very reason they were ninja was something she had done. All had naturally assumed she would be the leader, but it was not to be, Yadome was absolutely certain of it. She suspected Naotaka agreed, if she was the natural leader he would have just appointed her. Since he had not the implication was someone else should take the role.

"Um, in that case sister," Eisai asked carefully. "Who do you think it should be?"

Yadome's eyes shifted, and everyone else's moved to follow. It was not necessary to say anything.

"Me?" Kina's voice was surprised, almost scared. "You can't be serious."

"Seconded," Arisa said without addressing any objections.

"You are the best strategist among us, sister," Nanami added, and a chorus of nods followed.

"You can do this Kina," Fushiyo added supportively. "The Captain was grooming you to command, it was obvious."

"But, I'm not one of the older ones, and…" she seemed desperate to raise objections.

"Kina, you can do this," Yadome spoke with certainty, for she was certain. "You showed it today, you reacted quicker than the rest of us, came up with a plan, and executed it. If you had not done that Diedara would have escaped."

"You are all…certain of this?" Kina asked one final time.

Everyone nodded. The decision was made.

"Very well," Kina sighed, and before Yadome's eyes something appeared to change. "Master Togawa!" the young sniper's voice had taken an unmistakable tone of command, and the jounin jerked back in surprise. "Give me the radio please."

"Right," Togawa adapted quickly to this sudden change.

Yadome smiled.

"Raikage, sir," Kina addressed the distant Naotaka. "I have been appointed to command this endeavor," there was no need for Kina to use her name; Naotaka could easily recognize her voice. "We will remain at this location for present. At the next check in I will update Yugito's status and confer with you on a plan for the remaining enemies."

"Very good Captain," Naotaka answered with supportive confidence, and then cut the connection.

"Alright," Kina turned back to them all. "Tsune?"

"Yes?" the nun answered respectfully.

"Are you ready?"

"Whenever you wish." Tsune bowed her head to them.

"Then lets do this, our Captain shouldn't wait any longer," Kina said quietly, tears gathering in her eyes again.

Chapter Notes:


	21. Incident 20 Three are Tested

**Incident Twenty – Three are Tested**

**River Country – Near an Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Immediately Following**

Kina sat isolated in the woods, staring down at the much marked up map. Her hands moved over it slowly, wandering along the points of discussion she had crafted with Captain Saito. Her eyes were dry, but only because she thought she had cried as much as she could for now.

The map seemed like an empty reprimand to Kina, a failure. Everything had gone so well, but still the Captain had died. This was the dark message to her, they had made a mistake. They had pursued closely when they shouldn't have, and it had almost doomed them all. Kina could see the mistake, they had bet on their range superiority, thought it would protect them from everything, and hadn't been cautious enough. The next plan would have to be better, utterly complete, to defeat whatever was attempted. The golden-haired sniper resolved she would make it so.

It would not be easy, they would have to find them all first. The three remaining Akatsuki had fled north, and Kina was certain they had taken refuge somewhere in the Rain country. That would make things more difficult, it was all too easy to hide in that country. They would have to lure them out this time, which could be tricky. Kina didn't have any concrete ideas yet; they would simply have to go north and try to gather intelligence. However, she somehow suspected the enemy might well come to them. She would look out for that.

Tapping the map, her fingers circling about the Rain country, Kina tried to make plans, but for now, nothing came to mind. It all seemed so blank, disrupted. There was no voice to guide her now, she was on her own, and lives depended on her, the lives of her siblings, and more. She didn't know how to accept that great trust yet.

She was not so lost as to not hear the noise behind her.

"What is it?" Kina turned, and was surprised to see the face of Tsune, the nun.

"Well, Miss Kina, you're the one in charge now correct?" the nun questioned rhetorically. "So I thought I should tell this to you first."

"Tell me what?" Kina was puzzled, not knowing what business Tsune could have with her, really not knowing why the nun was with them at all.

"It's Yugito," Tsune explained. "There's a problem."

That wasn't good, Kina was certain. The jinchuuriki was complication enough by herself, additional problems were not needed. "What exactly is it?"

"Do you know how jinchuuriki are created?" Tsune asked.

"Vaguely, you seal the demon inside a person right?" Kina really didn't know the details, it had never seemed important to anyone other than a fuuinjutsu master.

"Yes," Tsune agreed. "That is more or less true. However, the seal remains, its presence is the key bond that holds the demon within the human. Such a seal is structured to allow the demon a certain level of access to the human container, partly because blocking it out completely is impossible, like trying to hold all the steam in a boiling pot of water, and partly to use the demon's power as a weapon." Tsune's distaste at the last was clear, though Kina thought it only a common sense measure. "Depending on the level of access the structure of the seal varies," Tsune went on. "And the jinchuuriki may weaken or strengthen it depending on their personal actions. Consistent use of demon power tends to weaken the seal."

Kina began to understand what Tsune was getting at. "Yugito used the bijuu's power regularly didn't she?"

"Yes," the nun answered. "However, that wouldn't be a problem in itself, but something has been done to her seal."

"What?" Kina didn't quite get it. "Shouldn't that have killed her?"

"If she weren't in a coma right now she'd be dead," Tsune explained, hesitant. "Someone who had a good deal of skill has weakened the seal to the point that it barely functions. Yugito's lack of activity restrains the demon within, but if she were to wake up, that won't be the case. The seal would break."

"What happens when the seal breaks?" Kina asked, expecting she wouldn't like the answer.

"I am uncertain," Tsune answered. "All the jinchuuriki are different and this seal has never broken before. In the past, well," her face filled with sadness. "Such things are mostly lost to legend, but it is believed the demon will rip free of the body, killing the jinchuuriki and the gaining the freedom to do whatever it wills, which usually involves great destruction."

"So, it's best that Yugito doesn't wake up then," Kina decided, dealing with a mad demon was not on her list of things to do. "We should just have her taken back to Hidden Cloud as she is then. Surely your grandfather and the rest of the temple members can repair the seal."

"I'm afraid that isn't possible," Tsune's voice was filled with regret. "Master Sadakaze determined the drug used on Yugito. He said she'll come out of the coma within a day at the most, and we have nothing similar to keep her in such a state. Even if we did another dose might kill her anyway."

Kina grimaced. The situation was rapidly growing worse, she could tell one of the Akatsuki members had a cunning mind, and she knew it was one of the survivors, only someone who had expected Itachi and Kisame to fail would take such a step. It was going to make everything harder to deal with that. "So," Kina could tell Tsune had not said everything. "What are our options?"

"I can attempt to repair the seal myself," Tsune replied, though her face held little confidence. "I have the knowledge to make the effort."

"But if you fail, then we have to fight the two-tails, right?" Kina scowled. "Any other options?"

"No," Tsune's voice was steady. "We have no choices."

The nun wasn't telling the whole truth, and it only took a second for Kina to figure out why after seeing it on her face. "That's not true," Kina's voice was cold. "When a jinchuuriki dies, the demon doesn't break fee, I seem to remember learning that. So, we could kill Yugito to spare everyone else."

"No," Tsune said swiftly. "We cannot take a life in that way, even the life of a jinchuuriki is still a human."

"You say that because you are not a ninja," Kina replied carefully, speaking the cold truth. "That's fine, but I'm in command now, and I have to make the decision. I am a ninja," Kina forced her voice to remain steady. "How long will it take you to set this up?"

"Perhaps an hour," Tsune said. "Do you doubt me Kina?" she asked, and her body seemed to grow firmer. "I am inexperienced, but I can do this, this is the reason I am here. My presence with you is not by chance. I was given a purpose in coming to this place and now it must be fulfilled."

"So you say," Kina responded. "Go get ready. I'll have to think about this."

When Tsune had gone Kina sank down to her knees. She felt a great weight had descended upon her suddenly. She knew this weight, its name: command. This was her responsibility now, to make this decision. To let Tsune attempt this risky maneuver, to repair the damaged seal, throwing all their lives into peril, or to make the coldest of calculations and murder a comrade in cold blood. Kina did not know Yugito save by reputation, and that was hardly favorable, but she was still a ninja of Hidden Cloud, and to order her death would be a hideous thing. The rules of command allowed it, but to even contemplate the act was hard. Yet the other choice seemed madness. Tsune was even younger than Kina herself, a prodigy she might be, but fuuinjutsu was the most difficult and time-consuming of all arts to master, and to seal a bijuu was something only the greatest of ninja achieved.

It was a terrible choice indeed, and Kina struggled with the temptation to throw it back to Commander Kato, to let the Raikage's wisdom decide it. She knew this was a false lure immediately. It could not be done. She was the commander at the scene, the decision must be hers. If she did not make the choice she would never be able to command on her own, she would always turn to a higher authority in times of trouble. These lives had been given, by her siblings own will, to her, and now she must prove worthy of that trust.

Nevertheless, Kina would ask for advice, for there was something she needed to know, and only one source for the knowledge.

The golden-haired sniper walked back to the camp and sought out her elder sister, now helping rig a tarp up. "Yadome," Kina ordered. "I need to speak with you."

Yadome nodded, and they walked off to the side, to a place where they could easily see Tsune standing beside Yugito's crumpled form.

"Do you know what the situation is with our jinchuuriki?" Kina asked first.

"There is some difficulty," Yadome replied, but added no details.

"The Akatsuki laid a trap for us," Kina explained. "If nothing is done, within the day the demon will rip out of Yugito. We have either to repair the seal to prevent this, or otherwise…"

"Otherwise, we must banish the demon by removing the host," Yadome finished for her sister.

"Correct," Kina let a breath out slowly. "Tsune says she can repair the seal, but she is so young. Is it really the truth?" Kina let her hesitation show openly, not that Yadome couldn't detect it in any case; nothing could be hidden from those eyes. "You were the only one there with Hidan. Can she do this?"

"She can," Yadome spoke with a confidence Kina had never expected.

"How are you so sure?" Kina's deep rooted skepticism asserted itself.

"Look at her," Yadome instructed. "Look into her eyes."

Kina did so, but saw nothing special. "She seems normal, if anything, not focused enough given what is about to occur."

"Don't look at the shell," Yadome went on. "Look past, look to the world we usually ignore."

Following her sister's words Kina searched deeper, hunting for whatever it was Yadome indicated. Slowly, staring into those soft eyes she let her vision swim a bit, losing the normal preternatural sniper's focus. There she saw a window open, and something flooded out, a vast expanse, endless as the ocean, overwhelming everything. This ethereal glow, ghostly though it was, resonated with power and authority, something great and majestic hidden in the small body of the young nun. "W-what is this?" Kina wondered, and all vanished as she blinked.

"I would never name it," Yadome spoke wistfully. "We do not have the right, but it is there."

"So it is," Kina said, and her decision was made.

She walked up to Tsune. "Are you ready?"

"In a few moments," Tsune replied without looking up.

"Alright," Kina replied. "Everyone!" she spoke loudly and addressed the whole camp, her voice shifting to that of a commander's without any conscious thought on her part. "Gather together. I want a wide ring in place around these two!" she pointed to Tsune and Yugito. "Gather your weapons and prepare. To save the life of Nii Yugito Tsune shall undertake to a great risk to repair the seal upon her. If all goes well we need do nothing, but if not, we may have to strike down the freed demon ourselves. So, form a ring and stand ready. Master Togawa!"

"Yes?" the jounin's answer was filled with some surprise at this sudden turn of events.

"I want your team to take the four cardinal points," Kina ordered. "If it comes to battle you will have to engage the closest while we try to bring the creature down from afar."

"Always the messy jobs…" the jounin muttered, but he nodded.

Kina followed her own instructions then, taking up her bow and joining the ring formed by her siblings. She chose a position to Tsune's right. She wanted a clear view of whatever was to happen.

When they were all in position Tsune stood up. The nun held her shakoju, now covered in paper seals. "I am about to begin," she explained. "Once this has begun you must not interfere no matter what happens. I don't know what the demon will attempt, but the stuggle will between it, me, and Yugito. Do not act, or you could doom everything."

"Understood," Kina answered, and caught the nods from everyone else.

"Very well," Tsune turned to face Yugito's pale form, lying on her back now as if she were already dead. Tsune's voice deepened now, and took on a strange tone, as if she was no longer speaking herself, but another was speaking through her. "In the name of the Dainichi Buddha, the center and all in one, I demand the presence hidden within this body, the Nibi no Nekomata, stand forth and be judged."

Tsune's staff tapped the ground twice in succession, bells ringing.

Dark smoke, purple and warped, seemed to steam off Yugito, as steam rises when water is splashed upon hot rocks. Slowly it emerged above her face, and then took shape, coalescing into the most foul visage of a feline Kina had ever seen. Dark power pulsed from this image, and it instilled fear even shifting in the wind. Kina was able to push past her fear, but she was still frightened, this thing was not like a man, and could not be contemplated in the same fashion.

Tsune gave no sign of fear; indeed, as Kina looked on she thought the ama looked at the demon form with something resembling pity.

"Well little one," the smoke spoke in a surprising voice, its words seeming to echo free of the space above Yugito's mouth. It sounded like a young girl, happy and amused. "You called so I came, but do you really think it will matter?"

"Your remarks have no place here demon, you shall answer to my demands and no more," Tsune ordered.

"Answer?" the smoke shifted, and the voice of the Nibi laughed. A sound sickening in its pleasantness. "Little one, I will soon be free of this pointless prison. When that is done I will destroy you all, slowly, since it has been so long since I last played with human toys. Nothing you do will stop it."

Kina could tell that the demon wasn't taking this seriously. The Nibi was cat-like in form and cat-like in mindset, and seemingly it thought, like a cat, that no human could command it. Yet, Tsune's eyes burned, not with anger, but a force of regret many times more potent.

"No!" Tsune's shakoju struck the ground twice more, bells rang and wind whirled about the strips of paper. A flickering haze wrapped about the nun and the smoke, a boundary as yet unformed, but demarcated. "Before the eternal gaze of the Dainichi Buddha you will bow and be judged."

The smoke recoiled, then pulsed and surged. "Really," the voice remained coy. "Stop this farce little one, and I might just spare your little life. Your enthusiasm amuses me, even though it is pointless."

"Pointless?" Kina had not thought Tsune possessed any cruelty, but this notion vanished in an instant when she saw what happened next. "You are in poor company Nibi. I have had the voice of a dark god himself threaten to rip out my soul. Do you think to impress me?" Slowly, Tsune smiled.

"Worm!" the Nibi's child-like voice vanished, to be replaced by a lion's roar. "You dare mock me! Me! The Nibi no Nekomata, one of the nine mightiest demons of the world!" Smoke surged and whirled about, spinning and crackling, seeking to envelop Tsune.

The ama clapped her hands together, and prayer strips flew off her staff to form a circle about her, and then expand to the limits of the barrier Kina had glimpsed before. Suspended in a wind that was not there, they swirled about, opposite to the motion of the Nibi. "I do not mock you!" Tsune called out, voice soaring. "No, not mock you, I pity you! Creature of Samsara, untranscendant and doomed to an endless animal existence you cannot escape. Your doom is great indeed, and your suffering terrible, but I shall not allow it to excuse your actions!" Tsune's staff was rotating now, it moved in careful circles spun by her wrists.

"Pity?" the lion's voice passed a moment in confusion. "FOOL!" the power of the roaring speech slammed into Kina's ears, and felt as if all the world was burning in the sound. "You say such things! Well, we shall see what comes of it! Here, taste your desires!"

Smoke turned to flame in an eye-searing moment, and those flames wrapped about Tsune, crackled, burning, and consuming. Kina gasped as the smell of charred flesh reached her nostrils, knowing that the nun was truly burning, this was not illusion.

To Kina's left Atsue held her bow, and had taken aim.

"No!" Kina ordered immediately, shouting with all her strength to be heard over the roar of flames and now the laughter of the Nibi. "We must not interfere!"

"But she'll die!"

"We must not!" Kina repeated. "This is not our fight!"

Slowly Atsue lowered the bow, but tears streamed down her face, and Kina felt the rebuke there. To hold back the shot was infinitely harder than to strike out. The golden-haired sniper needed no reminders, she felt doom descending upon her now, for she had lost Tsune's life, and now there would be a desperate fight that it would be a miracle for them all to survive.

A pillar of burning purple flame enveloped Tsune, until nothing could be seen of the nun, but there were no screams, only the scent of death slowly consuming the body. It was hellish, torturous, for surely the Nibi could have ended it quicker, instead the cat-demon was drawing it out, treating Tsune as a housecat treats a caught mouse, a toy for its own amusement, nothing more.

The pillar moved fully away from Yugito's body, and laughter filled the whole world, every peel a rebuke upon Kina's soul, if she survived today she did not know how she would walk on. Still, she made herself watch, even in failure, the others depended on her to save them.

There was a flash of gold.

From within the pillar of flame appeared the bell-bearing end of the shajoku, it lanced downward, to strike a point in the center of Yugito's chest.

Laughter vanished, and words strange and powerful replaced them, the chanting of some strange incantation in a voice foreign to all.

With each word a strip of paper left the spinning cloud and descended to the end of the staff. For a moment it flared, and then the ash vanished. Again and again it repeated, strip after strip.

As each fragment of paper burned and vanished, the fire weakened. In moments flickers could be seen within, and what could be seen caused all the assembled ninja to gasp in astonishment.

Tsune stood within a circle of five other beings, all great forms of bronze skin and wrathful countenance. It was their flesh that burned and smoldered, not the delicate skin of Tsune, but they appeared complete unharmed.

"The Godai Myo-o," a voice, Kina thought it was perhaps Sadakaze's, spoke in awe. "Blessed is this day and great this gift."

Kina knew little of the powers of Buddhism, none of the Shinobi-Ite had been raised to know much religion, but it did not matter now, she could see such mighty beings in plain sight, and understand their tremendous power. The demon, for all its terrible angry wrath, seemed a pitiable shadow by contrast.

When the last of the paper seals had burned away the first of the figures before Tsune snapped his left hand forward, revealing a rope that wrapped about the fiery essence of the Nibi. The fire was bound fast, and could not shift.

"Wretched one," the figure spoke without moving his mouth, his voice the thunderous crash of the avalanche. "You cannot be destroyed, but never will I allow you to escape. Go back to your prison, and all the more terrible now shall it be since you glimpsed a taste of freedom!"

The rope snapped again, and the flame and smoke was pulled down to Yugito's form, and slowly flowed into the pale flesh. When it was done the rope wrapped around the body, and it too sank away, merging with the ninja's essence.

In that moment the five great figures vanished and none could say thereafter that they had seen them go.

Tsune crumpled, losing the grip on her staff, and falling forward. Yilosi Miya, who had stood at the north, reached her first and held her up. "Are you alright girl?" she asked with a tenderness Kina had never expected from the harsh woman.

"I…I…am whole," Tsune replied, her voice tender, her body shaking. "I have been granted far more than I ever deserve, my inadequacy to such gifts is shaming. I must rest, it is too much."

"Here, sit," Miya lowered her to the ground carefully, and propped her against a backpack that had been quickly supplied. "Have some water," she handed a canteen to Tsune.

The nun drank slowly with her eyes closed, but Kina judged she would be alright, and dared to turn her eyes away for a moment. Thus, she saw Yugito's eyes snap open.

"Master Togawa," Kina pointed. "We are strangers to her."

"Right," the jounin nodded; seeming regretful that he hadn't recognized it.

He bent down over her, and Kina stood behind him.

"What…Where?" Yugito began. Her voice was weak, and cracked and dry from some days without real nourishment. "That helmet…the Forked Bolt?"

"Here," Togawa tilted a canteen to her lips. "Drink, but slowly."

Yugito took slow sips, carefully, and her countenance seemed to improve. When Togawa took the canteen away she seemed better, more stable. "What happened?" her voice had regained a gritty edge, demanding.

"The northwest portion of the country of Rivers," Kina said, deciding she would need to assert herself quickly. "You have been a captive for over two weeks."

"Country of rivers? How? I was in Lightning…" Yugito's confusion was apparent.

"You were captured by the Akatsuki," Kina caught the motion of recognition. "They were going to rip the demon out of you and leave you dead."

"Who are you, to know such things?" Yugito's eyes narrowed.

"I am Kina, Captain of the Shinobi-Ite," it was painful to say that, Kina did not feel she had earned the title yet, but it was the truth. "I have succeeded Ukita Saito as the commander of this mission."

"I don't know you," Yugito's voice was angry. "How can you command? Shinobi-Ite, what is this?" She tried to rise.

"Stay down," Togawa held her shoulders. "It's the truth. You've caused a lot of trouble Yugito, and you're damn lucky to be alive. You owe everyone here for that, my team hauled you out of their hole and killed your guards, but without these archers we'd never have gotten close. Worse," and he bent his head down so only Yugito and Kina could hear. "You'd have never woken up if a saint hadn't reached out to save you. Remember that."

Yugito's eyes went wide, and she slowly put a hand to her chest. "Something…something has…changed…hasn't it."

"You will have to ask Tsune," Kina explained. "But wait a while first, she deserves her rest. For now, you, and the rest of us, need some food. It has been a very long day. After that, we can let the Raikage decide what to do about you."

"What do you mean?" Yugito demanded, letting Togawa help her up.

"Exactly what I said," Kina replied. "Yadome!" she called to her sister. "Can you help Yugito here," she wanted her sister to be Yugito's guide, not one of Togawa's team. The jinchuuriki worried her. Whatever Yugito's merits and faults as a person, she still had a demon inside her, and Kina would never let herself forget it. Beyond that, she knew Yadome was the best choice to handle someone marked out like this.

Chapter Notes:

The Dainichi Buddha is the cosmic Buddha revered in esoteric Buddhism. Those are the Shingon and Tendai sects in Japan primarily, which is what Tsune represents; the ninja were historically (and mythically) linked to esoteric Buddhist sects.

The Godai Myo-o is a grouping of five deities (the Five Great Kings). They are the kings of mystic knowledge and they protect practitioners of Buddhist Law and vanquish blind craving (which seems to be a good term for the Bijuu). Fudo Myo-o, who appeared in a much earlier portion of this story and is the speaker here, leads them.


	22. Incident 21 Grim Promises

**Incident 21 – Grim Promises**

**River Country – Near an Empty Industrial City**

**Disputed Territory**

**Immediately Following**

Yadome held Yugito up with her left arm, supporting her on her shoulder.

"I need food," Yugito said harshly. "Get me something, quickly."

Yadome turned her sharp eyes to the jinchuuriki. She found Yugito a puzzling person, though, oddly, the two looked surprisingly alike, and we even very close in age. Yet, looking into those eyes, purple-tinged by the bijuu's presence, Yadome knew there were differences. Where the sniper was calm, calculating, and composed, the jinchuuriki was filled with fire, a wrathful power that made her impulsive, and quick to give in to her emotional desires. This was a problem, the pale-haired sniper recognized, the cat-like nature of irresponsibility and assumed authority infected Yugito, and it would need to be tamed or she would become a liability once again. Tsune, or whatever god had come to her call, had taken the first step, but the work was not done. Yet, Yadome wondered how to tame a cat, was such a thing even possible?

Nevertheless, she would not begin with acquiescence. "You do need food," Yadome answered. "And I will help insure you get some, but understand this: you do not command here, indeed, you stand lowest among us all. Your life was saved at great risk and through holy mercy, humbling to see. You must remember this."

"So you say," Yugito grumbled as Yadome helped her over to a pack and pulled out some of their cold, but highly-fortifying, trail meals. The jinchuuriki lunged into it with a will, positively devouring the food in great gulps, something that did not seem to fit her appearance at all. "But I've never seen any of you before. At the very least I am a jounin of Hidden Cloud, what authority do you have to order me?"

Yadome watched as Yugito gulped down her mouthfuls and gulped water from a quickly appropriated canteen. Each bite seemed to improve her health measurably; such a thing must be a demonstration of the power of the demon within, this rapid recovery. It was at least positive, though it made things more difficult if Yugito would soon be back in steady form. "You have seen me before," Yadome answered. "Me and all my siblings, we have walked occasionally in Hidden Cloud for years, but you have never noticed. Your status as a jounin is meaningless now. The Shinobi-Ite is its own unit, and commands this effort on the Raikage's direct authority, all other Cloud forces, even those of Master Togawa, is subordinate to us."

"What is this Shinobi-Ite?" Yugito's voice was hurried, speaking between mouthfuls of food. "I know nothing of it."

"A secret unit that has only recently been activated," it was necessary to say that much, Yadome had no desire to say any more.

"A secret unit is it," Yugito's eyes narrowed. "So all you girls just happen to have the Raikage's personal authority huh?" her voice was harsh, almost threatening. "Just what did you to earn that, eh?"

"Our achievements before our unit was activated must remain secret," Yadome replied sincerely. "However, I can tell you of this mission. We have tracked and eliminated four of the Akatsuki directly, and with the assistance of Master Togawa's team accounted for two more. Also, upon unexpectedly encountering them we designated and eliminated Orochimaru and his chief minions as a target of opportunity." Yadome spoke without pride, simply stating the facts as dryly as possible. She did not boast, and would not have wanted to now in any case.

"I don't believe you," Yugito denied.

"Reasonable," Yadome admitted, for it was rather a lot to say. "There is evidence, however." She could have said more, but decided on another route. Standing Yadome went over to the pile of gear and removed a long cloth-wrapped bundle. She dropped it to the dirt in front of Yugito.

"What is this?" the jinchuuriki asked, scowling.

"Open it," Yadome instructed.

Yugito did, carefully, suspicious. She almost cut her hand even so, for there was no dulling that incredible edge. "A sword…how odd, but what should it…" the last of the cloth came away. "Impossible…"

"I took the blade from Orochimaru myself," Yadome was not boasting, that was not her way, but she had to say something. "It was used to kill him."

The jinchuuriki's head jerked, and purple eyes bored into Yadome, who met them freely, staring back, eagle-eyed and with nothing to hide.

"I do not think I could believe anyone who said that," Yugito shook her head and looked away. "But the sword is real, so it must be true. You killed Orochimaru," a thin hand slid along the flat of the blade as she spoke. To Yadome's eyes something peeled away from Yugito then, as if all the bedrock of her world had been swept away as if it were sand. To the jinchuuriki, so long at the pinnacle of power, to find herself staring at someone who had done something she could never hope to do, shattered many illusions. "I can see power in you," Yugito spoke at last. "But it is not like that of others, like Togawa, or any other great ninja I have known. What gives you this ability?"

"I am not so special," Yadome answered candidly. "I have a talent to aim and deflect projectiles, nothing more. My siblings and I are the culmination of a far greater effort of which each is merely a small part. Our skill is synthesized out of the integrated vision of many, and greater than any part."

"Your honest confidence is terrifying," Yugito whispered. "I did not want to believe what the girl who said she commanded, Kina yes?" Yadome nodded. "Said to me. My fate is to be decided, I cannot accept that," Yugito's mouth flattened into a thin line. "I have been the strongest of all Hidden Cloud, and yet some little girl dares to say that to me! I cannot accept it."

"Our captain died today," Yadome said with sadness. "Kina has been forced to take his role. In some way it might be said he died because of you. She will not act from prejudice, but to her, and to all of us, your title, your nature, mean nothing. I suggest you get used to it, for it will not change."

Yugito looked back down at the grasscutter. "I think my freedom will not be the glorious release I longed for then, but I cannot argue against you," the blond jinchuuriki sighed.

"Yadome," Nanami's voice interrupted. "We've got Commander Kato back on. He wants to speak to our guest."

"It seems we have to go," Yadome stretched out a hand to help Yugito up.

The jinchuuriki took her hand to get to her feet somewhat unsteadily, but declined the shoulder the sniper offered. "I'm stronger now," she said simply.

The pair shuffled over to the radio unit.

"Here she is," Nanami indicated when the approached. "All yours sister," she gestured to Yadome.

"Nii Yugito, report," Naotaka's voice was a direct command.

"Present, Raikage sir," Yugito replied, bending down to the receiver.

"Good, I've been told our lady nun managed to save you from a nasty little trap," the Raikage explained. "Tsune says her purpose with you is fulfilled and that she will be coming home now. This leaves me with two options. I can order you home with her, or you can remain with the operating group. Before any decision is made I will ask this much, which would you prefer?"

"I want my chance to get them back," Yugito's answer was immediate.

"The men who captured you have been dead for over a week," the Raikage's reply was equally swift. "Do you intend to extend your vengeance?"

"I don't care who captured me, they all held me!" Yugito snapped back. "Don't I have the right?"

"No!" though it was only over the crackle of radio, the Raikage's voice was filled with a commander's thunder. "You have no rights jinchuuriki! You opposed me, would not stay in the village, and were captured. Three ninja died then and another has perished today! You exist because we chose to take an increased risk and save you, not for any other reason. You life now belongs to me completely, do you understand. A poor recompense for four lives lost, but I will take it all the same. I hope the implications are clear."

"You mean to say I'm your property?" Yugito growled.

"I mean there are no more second chances, not for you, or that demon inside of you," Naotaka's voice was steel. "From now on you will obey orders completely, you will not deviate, you will not object, you will only serve. A jinchuuriki is a weapon, and even now still useful, but I will no longer countenance the existence of a weapon that cannot be controlled. Act like a mad animal and you will be put down as one."

"I understand," Yugito said carefully, though it was obvious to all watchers she seethed. "I can tell the world has changed, I am not blind."

"Very well," Naotaka's words softened slightly. "I will allow you to continue with the mission. Doubtless Master Togawa can incorporate your abilities into his team. Kina is the overall commander now; she will find a use for you if not. Consider this task, the three Akatsuki who remain, your chance to prove your continued worth. Don't expect another one."

"As you wish sir," Yugito's anger mellowed slightly.

"That's all then," the Raikage cut the connection.

"Is this my fate then?" Yugito asked no one. "To be a little minion for those who despise me?"

"We cannot choose our fates," Yadome answered. "Still, the gods do not act without purpose, and for you, is not merely living a critical duty?"

"That might be, but it's not enough!" Yugito snapped, and then gave Yadome an apologetic look. "Sorry, you have not been mean to me, but it is very hard not to treat everyone as a foe. It's what the Nibi wants, and it is so easy to allow, while hard to resist, especially when I don't have much of a reason to resist."

Yadome considered this, looking carefully at Yugito, analyzing all about her. Weapons were instruments of death, and always cried out for use. Imagining what it would be like to never be able to put down her bow, the sniper began to grasp a little of what it might mean to be bound to a demon. "Then you must gain a reason," Yadome returned.

"What?"

"My siblings and I, the Shinobi-Ite, we have been raised to kill since very young, we are weapons in much the way you are, but our bonds to each other, to the Raikage, and to Captain Saito have held us together. We are responsible for more than ourselves. Perhaps that is the source of the strength you see, the strength the Raikage has, who takes responsibility for a whole village." Yadome wondered if this was really true, but it seemed to her to be close enough to a truth that it might work. Besides, even if she lied, convincing Yugito might be enough. So long as the jinchuuriki could find something more than the Nibi to hang against, she might be retained.

"Everyone hates my kind, don't pretend you don't," Yugito replied, not angry, simply speaking the dark truth in a grim voice.

"I did not mean a person," Yadome's answer was just as dark. "Should I trust you with a life? Should any of us?" she shook her head. "There are other things." Carefully she walked back to where they had sat and grasped the blade that lay there on the ground. It was a heavy thing, but flew about in Yadome's hand as it is weighed nothing, so perfect was the balance. "Like this,"

"You can't mean…"

"I do not need this blade," Yadome said, and she did not, indeed, she had never fought with a sword in her life. "When I acquired it I offered it to all of Master Togawa's team, but they did not desire it either, so it remained mine to give. You have the strength to wield this weapon, and you can undertake the responsibility of it as well. Prove yourself worthy of Kusanagi." Yadome tossed the blade to Yugito.

The jinchuuriki pulled it from the air with a smooth movement, spinning about in a few practice strokes. "This is too much; I cannot except such a gift."

"It is not a gift," Yadome's eyes bored into Yugito's. "Consider it a loan. If you are unworthy, I will take it back, along with your life."

Yadome knew Yugito understood she was not making idle threats. The jinchuuriki nodded slowly, carefully. "I will do this then. I hope you will not regret it."

Chapter Notes


	23. Incident 22 ColdEyed Choice

**Incident 22 – Cold-Eyed Choice**

**Rain Country – Secret Forest Base**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**One Day Later**

"No answer, why?" Rei hissed, and Kurame winced, knowing he was not holding it together. "Why ignore my commands?"

The astral linkage was a powerful technique, one of those only Rei could use. Even after years of watching the blue-haired Akatsuki had no conception of how it worked. She'd tried to measure any kind of radiation, transmission, anything, but there was nothing. However, it was easy to understand why an otherwise perfect technique would fail. There was only one real reason possible, but only a madwoman would voice that truth now.

To Kurame's benefit, Zetsu was at least partly mad.

"Dead, dead, dead," the hideous side of his personality groaned. "All dead, and none for me to feast…I'm hungry."

"Be silent!" Rei snapped, losing his composure completely for the first time in years, Kurame, ever watchful saw that he almost struck the plant-man. "They cannot be dead! There is no way!"

The other two faced their leader in silence now, not daring to speak, but not willing to lie either, everyone knew the truth.

"I will not accept this," Rei's voice dropped to a terrible whisper. "We cannot be reduced so, not down to only this trio before me. It is impossible, after all we have done, all our plans, all we accomplished."

It was time, Kurame judged, to take her gamble. "Saying something is impossible does not make it so," she kept her voice gentle, as close to motherly as she knew how. "They are not here and they will not answer. Either they are dead, or captured. I doubt this enemy would bother to capture any of us, so they are dead. We cannot change this."

"You dare, you, you little witch!" Rei howled, and he advanced toward her.

"I dare!" Kurame shot back, holding her ground before him, betting everything. She had to convince him now or there would be no way out of this doom for any of them. "I warned you!"

His stride hesitated.

"I told you anything other than flight could mean death for those involved! I predicted this, and you ignored me!" Rei was a pride-filled man, Kurame knew this to her core, but he was not a fool, and in the face of failure he could hopefully recognize this simple truth. She bet her life upon it, and far more. For if he did not see he would likely strike her down now. It was essential to seize the course of action here, to wrest free the reigns of the Akatsuki, and yet never let him know it had happened. "Now there are no choices! Had you listened we could have counterattacked, but now, we have nothing to counter with!"

"Be silent!" Rei snapped.

"Why should I be silent!"

"I said be silent!" the force of his voice, usually so sly, now dark and monstrous, closed her mouth. "Be silent for a moment," his normal composure was suddenly restored.

The silence stretched on, and Kurame held her breath, knowing the next words from Rei's mouth would decide everything.

"Only three remain," he spoke at last, and actually sighed, an expression she had never seen. "Three is not enough, and no matter the minions we utilize, they have not the quality to serve the purpose. The grand enterprise has failed."

"Failed?" Zetsu asked, incredulous, he had been with them for a long time, the fifth member, the first to throw his support behind the nascent organization. It surely hit him hard. "How can we have failed? The plans were perfect."

"There is no such thing," Kurame spoke matter-of-factly. "There are flaws to every design; perfection is impossibility in an imperfect world. Besides, our plans were devised with the help of Orochimaru, who has long since betrayed us, given his nature, they may have always been designed to fail without him."

"We still have five bijuu!" Zetsu barked. "Surely anything is possible with that."

"No," Rei's voice was solemn. "With only the three of us we cannot use them, and six holes can not be so easily made up as two. However, the power of five Bijuu does indeed remain to us, and it is surely a bargaining chip we can use."

"You have a new plan then?" Kurame wondered, suddenly fearful her careful designs would break down.

"At present I do not," she could not tell if he was lying, but he seemed different, as if the masterful confidence was gone. Kurame knew she would have to restore it, but she had planned for that as well. "However, I suspect we can come up with something."

"I think we can fairly swiftly," Kurame smiled, her voice at its most seductive now.

"What?" Zetsu's better half asked, performing just as she had wished.

"We have lost a great deal, that is true," Kurame began, leading them along. "And we face potent enemies, though perhaps not so potent as before. Still, we three remain, and I know Zetsu has contacts with all the minions all nine of us possessed. While our plan remained viable we could not compromise them, but now, they are no longer needed for such a purpose."

"You mean to activate all our sleepers then?" Rei asked, his eyes dialing in to her speech. "To what purpose?"

"To create an army," Kurame's answer was immediate. "No matter what else occurs, we must destroy our pursuers, and for that purpose we must overwhelm these snipers. With a disposable army we can do it."

"So we can, but what comes of that, save the loss of useful pawns for a minor achievement?" Rei was interested, but far from convinced.

"Our enemy is the greatest strength of Hidden Cloud, the element of the village most in the Raikage's confidence," Kurame explained. "Destroy it and the village is weakened immeasurably. Strike the village in the same moment and we might not just shatter it, but seize it."

"What?" Zetsu's disbelief was palpable.

"Think," Kurame urged, though her words were not designed to provoke thought, but lead them deeper into her web of exposition. "Kill the unit, the very best of Cloud's jounin, and at the same time move into the village freely, take the Raikage's head. With Togawa gone and two major clans reeling there will be dissent throughout the village, chaos. Project immeasurable strength at that moment, and the village can be ours, through me."

"Through you?' Rei raised an eyebrow. "You mean to make yourself Raikage? A poor joke Byako."

"Is it?" Kurame raised her own eyebrow and tilted her voice. "With Togawa gone there is no clear candidate to take the office. Those who hated me the most will die with him. I am still remembered in Cloud, I am strong, and once I was considered likely to be the next for the office. With you, the killer of the Raikage, at my side, it will be an easy enough fiction to produce. I pretend to be your master, even though the reality is the reverse."

"Ah, so I would kill the Raikage then?" Rei smiled. "Enterprising, but there will surely be holdouts, and a nasty rebellion. It will be very difficult to hold down the village."

"Difficult, yes, it will be," Kurame admitted this freely, it was always easier to lie with the truth. "But not impossible, and in the end victory in Cloud will make everything possible again. All along we have been going about this plan backwards, seeking to build a power to surpass the villages from nothing, when we should have started by seizing the existing power of a village and building from there. You recall we considered that in the very beginning, Sasori offered to help us seize Suna using a puppet Kazekage, but Orochimaru overruled the idea. Looking back now I think Orochimaru knew how much all villages despised him, and how he would be hunted in any such guise, but we are not like that. You are unknown Rei, Zetsu's existence can easily be suppressed, and as for me, well, some might call what I have done criminal, but not all would say so."

"A two part plan then," Rei muttered aloud. "You destroy our pursuers using our minions, and I assume Zetsu's aid, and I kill the Raikage at the same time. We take Cloud and dare anyone to stand forth and say it is not our. It has a great deal of…audacity, this plan," he smiled coldly. "It occurs to me that, even if Cloud cannot be seized, we shall still eliminate those who endanger us and send a message to the other villages that even wounded, the Akatsuki is not to be trifled with."

"Indeed," Kurame smiled. She had him. It was all to easy, Rei was, like so many others, a creature of pride, and his pride demanded the source of all this aggravation, the Seventh Raikage, perish for the provocation. By telling him to slay the Raikage she was giving him exactly what he wanted, and signing his death warrant. The Akatsuki's leader might well be the most deadly ninja alive, and Kato Naotaka might be the least of the Kages, but he was a strategist, and he knew how his enemies thought. Kurame knew he knew the enemy well enough to understand that a decapitating strike was surely planned. Rei might well kill Naotaka, so much the better if he did in Kurame's reasoning, but he would never survive the act. "Now then," she swished her hair about her face. "We have some work to do to implement this. I must plan out a way to engage the enemy with full force, and Zetsu must gather all our little pawns together."

Kurame sat quietly in darkness beneath the great trees of hidden rain, thinking carefully. Looking out at her future, she thought things gray, and still dangerous, but now survivable. With the information forced out of Zetsu she now knew her resources precisely, the assembly of elite chunin, special jounin, and jounin all the Akatsuki had enslaved throughout the countries, including her own minions. All were now expendable. Further, she had additional intelligence about her enemy now. The tiny hardened micro-receivers she'd placed on Kisame, Tobi, and Diedara had come in handy. Scratchy and limited as such information was, it still possessed immeasurable value. Diedara had himself been most helpful; flying apart in a massive explosion whose echoes illuminated everything.

Eleven deadly little snipers, it was an interesting number. Captain Ukita Saito had been their leader, but he was clearly dead now, shamefully the only one. Kurame had thought Deidara and Tobi would do more damage, but it looked as if they had landed no blows. Likewise the receiver her clone retrieved from Kisame's body. It provided her the name of Togawa's fourth team member, Aomori, someone she did not recall personally, but was known as an explosives expert. She also knew that the group had taken Yugito away alive, but the blue-haired Akatsuki did not fear much for that. The jinchuuriki was surely dead now, Togawa wouldn't have dared let her live when they discovered what she had done to the seal.

Rei would kill her if he learned of Kurame's actions regarding the jinchuuriki, for now the Nibi was surely lost until it emerged once again, to be caught and sealed in another generation. It doomed his ultimate plans, that act, but Kurame no longer cared a whit for such plans. This series of defeats at the hands of these snipers had revealed things to her like nothing ever before. She had never been so completely outclassed in her life. It was humbling, and being humbled had proved useful, if aggravating.

It had been amazingly easy to lie to Rei, to spin the fantasy of seizing Hidden Cloud. It had been easy, Kurame understood, because theoretically it could be done, and in the context of all the Akatsuki had reached out for in the past, it seemed as step back, not a great reach. Successive victories can make any army feel invincible. This was an axiom of war, Kurame had learned long ago. It had great use, the power of morale was mighty, but it also hid something important.

Even as you feel invincible, you are never invincible. The Akatsuki had accumulated many successes, but they had been trapped by so basic a fact. It reminded the blue-haired lady of an axiom she'd once heard from a Hidden Mist ninja: 'there's always a bigger fish.' Amazingly simple, but so easy to forget, she smiled, recalling it.

Four jounin, eleven snipers, fifteen in all who must be slain, or so Kurame reckoned. There was no avoiding that, it was absolutely true that they must die, or no future plans were possible. The only alternative was to flee beyond their reach, to the foreign lands Kurame knew from long ago, but she would not make such a choice. Whatever else, she was a ninja, and she would achieve her desires in the world of the ninja, or nowhere else.

The beast is at its most dangerous when at bay, when the situation is win or die. With the army fallen to her now, Kurame would create just a situation, and annihilate her enemies, no matter the cost to her expendable forces. Zetsu and Rei were both expendable, indeed, she fully intended to send both to their deaths, insuring all who knew the truth of her membership in the Akatsuki would perish with her foes. Then, with a great victory behind her, she could rebuild herself and her goals elsewhere.

It would be north, in the mountains of Stone, where Kurame saw her future. The Tsuchikage was a devilish man, an old schemer and a ruthless pragmatist. He wouldn't trust her for a second, but he would take the truth from her eyes and accept her service. Fading into the background of Stone would be easy, and Kurame would only build influence slowly, carefully, and never against the interests of the village. When the old man finally died, then she could realize her own vision of the ninja world in time. The scale would not be able to match the dreams of the Akatsuki, but it would be enough.

I left Cloud because the factionalism sheltered the weak, rewarded the useless, Kurame remembered, and she believed her decision still correct. That Naotaka, he has found a gap in the system, and exploited it, but even he cannot break Cloud, or if he could, it would never have included me. In Iwa, it is different, a single hand has guided them for so long, and a single hand shall continue to do so, all things will be possible there. Scowling Kurame recalled now with anger the choice to join the Akatsuki. She recognized the seductive lies of Orochimaru and Rei, the empty promises they had made. Initially she had wanted nothing to do with them, but she had hesitated, breaking her own greatest rule, and now she had wasted more than a decade. It would not happen again.

Now all that remained was to defeat her enemy. It remained to be seen who it would be. Saito was dead, but Kurame knew Togawa, though the obvious choice, would not replace him. It would be one of the snipers. Whichever did not matter, she had seen their ways, and knew them well enough now. Saito had been an old dog, not quick to adapt, but he knew his ways and could lick any up and comers who tried to challenge him. Kurame could have beaten him. Togawa was a sly wolf, able to stalk well and seize the moment fast when it came. Kurame could beat him, had beaten him indeed twice before. As for Naotaka, she knew him as a greater thing, not able to be easily described, and with her illusions stripped away; Kurame believed she could not win against him. Yet not the man, but one of the little owls would lead the attack, silent stalkers who wait for the moment and then strike with lethal force. Yet against this owl, Kurame knew she could win.

An owl has two weapons, talons and beak, one to grasp, and one to kill. Togawa was the talons, the snipers the beak. To separate them would be enough to blunt the killing stroke and then her own beast, a more powerful creature only stealth could bring down, would shred its enemy. Kurame could already see the way. All it required was Zetsu, and the Forked Bolt's own instincts.

Smiling now in the dark, the blue-haired ninja, Akatsuki and yet not, went to sharpen her weapons. In this battle it would be incumbent upon both generals to take the field in person.

Chapter Notes


	24. Incident 23 The Front Advances

**Incident 23 – The Front Advances**

**Rain Country – Unused Wheat Field**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**Five Days Later**

"We're fully updated then?"

"That's all the intelligence, I double-checked everything, there's nothing new of significance."

"Where's that leave things then?"

Nii Yugito watched the three Shinobi-Ite clustered around a map and a set of reports. She sat cross-legged, kusanagi across her lap. Activity could be heard clearly behind her, the rest of the little force going about various duties, but she paid it little attention. She'd not been assigned any duties, and everyone seemed not to want her underfoot. They still didn't accept her, and it irritated Yugito. Not in all her life had she been ever treated like this. Ignored, scorned, hated, all-but-worshipped, all those things had happened to her, but no one had ever looked upon her as a liability before, as a weak element that had to be protected, but that was how she felt they treated her.

The jinchuuriki had no idea how to deal with it. The Nibi's presence had always made her slightly cat-like, but a cat could not deal with disinterested pity. If she could not pull the focus attention to herself she did not know what to do. Yet they remained totally focused on their objective, not any concern of Yugito, simply brushing her aside when she tried to deal with the archers, and Togawa's team had copied the tactic. Even Yadome, who had given her the sword, seemed completely unconcerned about anything in the future.

So now she sat watching as the Shinobi-Ite made its plans, hoping to learn something useful.

The three who made their plans now were so very different, Yugito had thought, but yet so similar. Nanami, bright and friendly, her brown hair in a slim ponytail, was so seemingly normal, holding to a simple adaptable capability. Arisa, slender, dark-haired, and dark skinned, exotic in her features, held herself with careful diligence, always checking and rechecking everything. The last one was the most mysterious, the sharp and imperious blond Kina, beautiful in a way, but with a trapping mind. They were unique, yes, but above all that they held the same razor focus. Arrows directed at a target characterized all these girls. With the same frightful eyes they could seemingly function interchangeably, wearing each others' clothes and masking all personal features beneath camouflage gear and disguise. Yugito had heard Togawa call them deadly little dolls, and she believed he had stumbled onto something quite deep with the remark.

"Somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five ninja have gathered into this area over the past five days," Arisa outlined the situation. "We've recognized some, and it seems all are at least chunin elite, with the majority being jounin and special jounin. They represent all the villages and some other factions, though there is only one from Sand, presumably a reflection of the casualties there."

"How many from Cloud?" Nanami asked hesitantly.

"We recognized three," Arisa answered. "There could be more, it's not the largest group, but still, how do we treat them?"

"As enemies," Kina's answer was immediate and absolute. "We do not know the loyalties of all these ninja. They may be true traitors or they may be compelled by genjutsu, but regardless we cannot hesitate with regard to our foes."

"I suppose," Arisa obviously didn't like it, Yugito could hear the hesitation, but she raised no foolish objections. Kina's directive was obviously necessary.

"What's the point of summoning in all these minions anyway?" Nanami wondered. "Are they trying to start a war? That kind of force could besiege a village."

"They're trying to kill us," Kina explained. "Overwhelming force, a very pointed solution to the range issue. Overwhelm us with a sea of targets all with differing defensive abilities, it is a crude approach in some ways, but if you don't care about your minions it makes perfect sense."

"But surely it would have taken a great deal of time to assemble so many minions," Arisa noted. "Sacrificing them now seems foolish."

Yugito had to agree with that as she listened. Dismantling your intelligence network would doom your operations; no ninja could operate alone, especially not a rogue.

"It seems our enemy has decided to change their plans," Kina pulled her hand through her hair, a motion Yugito found curious, as she had recently realized it was not a nervous action, but something deliberate instead. "They have abandoned whatever their grand scheme was, and decided to simply destroy us. It seems we have taught the Akatsuki to fear us indeed."

The other two chuckled at that, and Yugito could only choke back her bitterness, recalling how she had been defeated by the two seemingly immortal enemies, the two these snipers had destroyed first.

"So, can we defeat this massive accumulation of force?" Nanami wondered.

"I do not know," Arisa spoke carefully. "But there is one other problem."

"What is that?" Kina's eyes where sharp, directed.

"It is the plant-man," Arisa answered, regretful. "He is not with the others, we have reports from villages to the west, closer to Rain, and people in those regions are being threatened."

"Why don't the Rain ninja do something about it?" Nanami questioned.

"They know," Kina supplied the answer in an empty speech, saddened. "They have been told, or been made to learn, they know the battle is coming and have washed their hands of it, so it is us alone now. A commendable move by our enemy this is, and the one we must defeat."

"Why?" Arisa wondered. "Can we not leave the plant man? He seems to have many bodies and does not die easily. We should deal with him last."

"If we do that he will kill hundreds, thousands, while we focus on the enemy, and might still attempt to ambush us from behind," Kina explained her mouth tight. "This is a callous, but effective, stratagem. Our opponent presumes upon our morals, and the danger of the rain ninja. If we do not defend their people the Rain will fall on us at the worst possible point, so we must stop our botanical enemy," Kina looked at the complex map again and then deep into the trees. "Odd though, this move sacrifices him, one of only three who remain, it seems whoever plans among them has decided to cast the rest of the organization to the wind in order to destroy us. Is it treachery within? Or simply a devious trick of one against the others? I wish we knew the identities of these three."

"But if we must fight this plant-man," Nanami remarked. "That means splitting our forces, and if we must fight superior odds we will need every bow, every person."

"Yes," Arisa confirmed it. "But surely our enemy knows we will see this? Should we not avoid a battle then? That seems the easiest."

"In a desperate situation the enemy always fights hardest," Kina roughly paraphrased the old words of strategy. "And the hardest task in a battle is killing the last man," that phrase belonged to their Raikage. "But among ninja you must always spill that blood, and complete the effort," her hand stopped moving. "We must fight, or our enemy will simply fade away before us, and this will never end. That is what the sacrificial lure means, the Akatsuki will let battle come only on their terms, it is a message written plain as day. They are not the worst of terms, those offered by the enemy. Any victory they achieve will be pyrrhic at best, their minions cut down in great number, possibly all the actual members killed, but that is what makes it impossible to avoid."

"How so?" Nanami questioned, and Yugito shared the question, not understanding why it would have to be a battle, on the enemy's terms, something always best avoided.

"Simple, this is a pure challenge, from one strategist to another," Kina explained with a cold smile. "I understand now, why Commander Kato told me to press on no matter what, he anticipated this. Both sides now know the situation, the disposition of the enemy, and roughly where the battle will take place. One side has engineered a slight advantage, deprived us of the complete total of our forces, but we are free to choose how much, and the disadvantage is not insurmountable. It will come down to the actual battle setup, the strategy and the tactics each side deploys. This," now Kina smiled with a strange satisfaction, and expression Yugito could not place, something fierce and frightening. "Is not a challenge any real commander can refuse, an offer to face off with the foe and defeat them."

"So," Nanami shared her sister's smile. "This is how generals deliver death challenges then?"

"Exactly," Kina laughed lightly, her dark mood broken.

Yugito watched in awe, stunned by the closeness of these ninja before her, their willingness to stare into the face of this situation, so coldly analyzed only a moment before, and laugh about it. What Kina had just outlined so diligently was a battle that would cost the majority of the lives on both sides, even Yugito, never a strategist, could see that much. How could they think about it so easily? She, who had always thought herself invincible, and only so rudely lost that assurance, now looked on the coming encounter with terrible fear.

"So, sister," Arisa asked. "How do we fight this battle?"

"Togawa told me an interesting thing when I asked him about the fight with Itachi and Kisame," Kina remarked. "He said that many ninja think of battles and strategy as a game like shogi or go. It is a popular opinion, but Togawa had an interesting twist. He said it was the wrong analogy, because if battle is a game, then it is not won by the one with the most skill and manipulation of the rules, but by the one who is the best at cheating, for dishonesty is irrelevant when your opponent is dead," Kina sighed softly. "Master Togawa is no great strategist, but he has hit upon a very important thing with such knowledge. So, the game board for this challenge is set, but we will cheat."

Nanami and Arisa both smiled, and even Yugito, listening, did so, it was something she could understand, a refreshing dishonesty that seemed so very _ninja_ to her.

"So exactly how are we going to cheat?" Nanami asked.

"In the most fundamental way possible," Kina replied. "Our enemy has forced us to split our forces, but we will meet them with everything."

"But then…the plant-man?"

"Yugito," Kina spoke without turning. "Could you please go find Yadome for me, I need to speak to her."

It was startling, to be spoken to offhand, to recognize that in all the discussion Kina had never once forgotten about her. Yugito was continually surprised at the young lady's skill, her knowledge seeming so great for one so young. She was not on the Raikage's level, no one was, but she was very good. Was it the teaching, by Naotaka and Saito from such a young age, or was it talent? The jinchuuriki did not know, but it made Kina fearsome, far beyond her dangerous abilities as a sniper.

The blond demon vessel stood and walked about the camp, obeying the simple order without the typical irritation.

It was not difficult to find Yadome. The pale sniper was practicing, firing her bow at distant marks in the heavy wet forest of rain country from a series of frightful awkward positions suspended from twisted branches. Watching for a moment, while five shots where launched, Yugito did not see a single miss, though in truth she could not really tell, the range was beyond easy vision, only those incredible lenses Yadome wore made the shots possible.

"Your captain wants to talk with you," Yugito called up, trying to be friendly, though her voice had become harsh over the years and it was not easy. Still, she could only feel grateful to this strange girl, who had trusted her with the mighty sword she now wore.

With delicate grace Yadome descended, flipping through the air to land with her bow pointed directly at Yugito's face, an arrow strung. Suddenly frightened, the jinchuuriki hoped the sniper had not made some snap-decision to get rid of her, for she did not think at such a range any defense could possibly be fast enough.

Yadome slowly put the bow away, saying nothing but, "Let's go then."

Shaken, Yugito walked the fierce woman back to her sisters.

Kina stood when Yadome approached, despite not needing to, outranking her elder sibling. Yugito had noticed how the oldest stood apart from the other Shinobi-Ite, and that is was more than the age, more than the difference in equipment, Yadome was different from the others, she had a talent that was far more complete than the rest. It was a strange thing, for it was always between the siblings, but no one ever mentioned it.

"What is it sister?" Yadome asked in her curt and pointed voice, always seeming to speak in the same manner as her deadly-focused eyes.

Kina held up the map. "One of the Akatsuki, the man with multiple bodies and plant components, is here," she pointed to a mark to the west. "He threatens the villages there, and must be dealt with to prevent action by rain ninja." It was a quick summary, but what followed left Kina speechless. "Kill him," Kina instructed, her tone never changing. "Then meet with us here," she pointed to a road about one day's travel north. "You have two days. Take longer and we may all die. The final engagement is coming and it will be on that road."

"Understood," Yadome replied. "I will leave immediately."

"Sister," Kina's tone was no longer that of a command. "We have all relied upon you for so long, and it shames me that we must rely on you again, but I am putting all our lives, and those of Togawa's group, into your hands, so please…"

"Sister," Yadome responded in a quiet voice. "I will not fail you, and I would never forsake you. Please, never feel you cannot ask me for all I can give, I could not bear that."

"Yes, of course," Kina sputtered slightly, shaken in a way Yugito had not observed from the young captain. "I am sorry."

Yadome said nothing, but pulled up the mask of her suit again, becoming the glass-eyed ghost seamlessly blended with the forest, and turned and seemed to vanish from sight.

Kina took a deep breath, and then turned to Yugito. "Now then, pay attention, for you will have an important role in what is to come as well."

So the jinchuuriki listened, as the Shinobi-Ite's captain outlined the final plan for the Akatsuki's destruction.

Chapter Notes:


	25. Incident 24 By the Roots First

**Incident 24 – By the Roots First**

**Rain Country – Dense Forest**

**Daimyo Controlled Territory**

**The Next Day**

Yadome sighted her quarry almost exactly at noon, a strange coincidence of timing, and little more. She had waited for him for almost an hour, no more, having expected his appearance in this area since morning.

The man with plants integrated into his body was an enigma, his movements erratic, his abilities strange, his body apparently without normal blood, and his name was unknown. Only the last was something Yadome preferred. It was always easier to kill a man when his name remained unknown, a strange thing Yadome could not explain, but it held true for her.

As she watched the strange man approach the village, walking slowly through the sodden rice fields after he had simply appeared on the forest edge, Yadome considered her options. The current figure was the real target, not the copy bodies they had killed so often in the past. She had managed to work out a setting of her lenses that revealed that, a difference in heat. The completely plant-formed bodies had no temperature difference from the surroundings, while the real man actually did. That much played to Yadome's advantage, that her enemy was currently surrounded by a screen of vines did not.

Obviously, Yadome's target expected attack, in fact, as she watched, some three hundred meters off, another version of the man materialized slowly from a nearby tree, this one fully made of plant matter.

The clone was no less deadly for that. They had learned that in the fight in Rivers country. These copies held all the power of the original, and all the durability, indeed, even more durability, for they had no vital parts. It took a very complete destruction to eliminate them. It was not normal, but normality was not something you expected from people like this.

Unlike her sister Kina, Yadome was no great strategist; she was a sniper, pure and simple. Her approach to battle could be reduced to the very basics, finding a way to make the killing shot. However, this situation could not be handled so simply. Her foe was aware of her, expecting an attack at any moment, and it would take far more to kill him than an ordinary human. Yadome knew she needed a strategy, but she had few ideas.

Time was against Yadome as her foe walked easily across the field. He'd reach the village soon, surely to start a massacre and obscuring any potential shots. She had only moments to think of something.

Her mind raced, trying to think like her sister, her captain, her commander all did, what would work, how could she entrap this man? How could a plant be destroyed?

With the last thought she hit upon a possible idea. For animals, you put holes in them to kill them, for plants you had to cut them down or rip them up, but there existed forces to destroy both types of life, and now Yadome decided she could try to harness them.

She worked hurriedly, having to prepare with only moments available, engaging in tasks unfamiliar. Yet, as she worked, Yadome gained further confidence. She was not acting as a sniper now, just as a ninja, but this struck her as ideal. Her foe was prepared to face a sniper, not to face a ninja. With a little work, she'd reverse all the expectations, Yadome didn't care how her foe died; arrows weren't the only way to kill.

Her preparations done she had to hurry, running through the forest edge, trusting in the masking power of her equipment to keep her silent and unseen.

There was barely enough time, when the pale sniper finally reached a proper angle, directly behind the real body of her target. He was only a dozen or so meters from the first few buildings, though he'd not been observed yet, seemingly, there were few people about. Yadome lifted her bow, took only a moment to aim, and then launched an arrow across the four hundred meter distance.

To keep up the forms the sniper had cloaked her arrow in chakra, hiding its appearance, but she deliberately refrained from masking the sound, and made surely the arrow hit the wind in just the right fashion, insuring it would be heard upon its path.

Moments before the arrow would have impacted grasses shot up behind the plant-man, whipping about the arrow with frightful speed, and then throwing it backwards, insuring any explosion was too far away to do harm.

Yadome had not wasted an explosive arrow, but she admired the counter. She considered how to deal with it even as she launched a trio of lightning arrows with all he speed she could manage, and then ran to the right.

Only moments later plants twisted in a hideous verdant distortion as a frightful green copy of the plant-man materialized in the place Yadome had occupied when launching her initial attack. Crackling darts of electrical force met this new form as well, the sniper having anticipated this maneuver.

Burning and sizzling the flesh smoked and burned, but this vegetative copy only smiled hideously and raised a smoking hand.

Yadome was already leaping back, knowing she could not allow her now two enemies to flank her. Even as she snapped off lightning arrows to burn back surging vines and rippling grasses she maintained constant motion, darting backward in fits and zigzags of jerky motion, drawing her foes onward, and always away from the place she had prepared.

The pursuit by Yadome's foe was not a thing of one ninja and a clone, no, it was a vast stampede of vegetation, twisting and turning and gradually building into a tidal wave of greenery, covered with spines and thorns and all but obscuring the small cloaked figures running through it. Though the sniper maintained ahead of the crest of that wave for a time, it only proceeded to gain speed and would soon overtop her entirely. Little darts of electrical energy might ward off one advancing vine or burn back a nasty spray of thorns from moment to moment, but it was not enough. A ninja cannot fight a forest.

Yadome, backpedaling furiously, knew some trepidation before this mighty attack. She had expected a powerful set of counters, but nothing like this all-encompassing assault. Her foe apparently had chakra to burn and a very solid understanding of just what kind of attack was most useful against an archer. After all, one could not poke holes in a hillside. However, this was not Yadome's plan.

Nevertheless, she was about to take a hideous risk. Everything in the counter the sniper prepared depended not on her own skills, a relatively minor component of this new situation, but on the powers embedded in the seals of her suit. The total operations gear must prove its viability here and now, or Yadome would die, and death could not be allowed, Kina's orders were clear.

"It look's like you're about to be swallowed up!" the plant-wielding Akatsuki laughed with cultured sadism. Yadome said nothing, focusing her mind upon the second skin and all its seals she wore.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" the alternate copy of the Akatsuki screamed.

The completely different voices were a startling revelation, and could be seen to explain much, but Yadome pushed the thoughts away. She had something else to do.

Channeling chakra the pale sniper slammed her feet down. Spinning, she launched into the air. Her right arm moved in time, pulling arrows from her quiver and throwing them forth, forming a perfect pattern.

A vine, covered in finger-length prickles, spanned out from the massive wall of green anger, curling about Yadome's right ankle.

Gold flashed, and seals ignited on the bodysuit, hurling a burning remnant of vine away.

"What?" One-half of the Akatsuki muttered, as the other growled in rage.

Arrows fell back into Yadome's hands, and she shot again and again, forming a specific pattern. "Motokadou!" she intoned, and the power imbued in those arrows wrapped about and formed its shear spiral, a hurtling vortex shearing through the green wall and down.

Plant juices rained down to soak the ground before the onslaught, and a hole ripped into the great vegetation wave.

Now was the moment, a circular gash revealed a path through the massive wall of green. Yadome focused, whispering words to invoke one of the strange powers imbued by the master Genjiro in her equipment.

Seals flared, and a coruscating nimbus of energy wrapped around her body. Impossibly her motion completely reoriented herself, channeling all her momentum in the direction she now specified. Instead of falling to the ground, into that devastating mass her enemy had formed, Yadome burst out through the hole she had carved.

As she escaped the great trap there was a single snap of the bowstring, and Yadome sent her last arrow down at her foe's copy. The attack came from above and behind, and impossible angle to one who had though protection completely assured.

The barbed steel struck home, and then detonated.

The copy gone the sniper's task was far from done. Landing behind her enemy Yadome ran as hard as she could, invoking seals in her suit once more to empower her body and vastly increase her speed, turning to a streak of black across the ground. Her arrows expended there was no only the trap she had prepared, the deception that must succeed.

The green wave crashed down in the distance, and the ground rumbled and shifted with the immense force of the mighty attack. In that moment the plant master looked back and saw his enemy escaping, hitting the edge of the forest with speed no runner could match.

"Oh no you don't," he hissed.

Five great running strides only had Yadome taken past the edge of the woodline when the ground exploded beneath her in a storm of lashing, sharpened, roots.

The sniper desperately planted her foot and swung her body and bow around, letting those woody clubs smash her body, bruising and scraping. Her suit absorbed the worst of it, but its energies were exhausted, the pale woman's chakra all but gone, and she was held fast in a crushing grip.

Before her stood the monstrous foe, two-colored face inside a vast plant cocoon, a lashing shield of grasses before him, preventing any desperate attack she might manage. "Now die!" two voices spoke as one.

Beneath the black fabric covering her face Yadome smiled, and forced her bowstring back one last time.

Her aim was wild, nowhere near her target, who laughed as the streak of electricity slammed pointlessly into a tree behind him.

The world before Yadome's eyes exploded into flames.

The howling wind of the sudden change mingled with the incredulous scream of her adversary as the trap unfolded. Explosion notes mixed with balls of tinder and all the other flammables Yadome had scrounged up, all triggered at once by careful placement turned the little section of forest into a raging inferno.

The Akatsuki's plant form, previously an asset, was now a death sentence. Despite its natural resistance to flame, once ignited his body served only to fuel his combustion, screaming and raging as he futilely attempted escape.

Yadome, held fast still by the roots, was forced to watch the slow process as the man burned to death, screaming in twin voices the whole time, until at last, mercifully silent.

The life of her foe ended, the roots slackened in their binding and the sniper slowly navigated her limbs free. She was bruised and battered, and her suit would need patching before all its function could be restored once more, but she was whole.

Only one look did Yadome spare for her foe's remains before turning away. She was not interested in the dead. Her siblings were relying on her now, and the mission was not done. It was time to return, and she must hurry, or this little victory would be for nothing.

Chapter Notes:

Thanks to Hakate Aiko for suggesting death by fire as the fate of Zetsu


	26. Incident 25 Blue Sky and Clouds

**Incident 25 – Blue Sky and Clouds**

**Rain Country – Major Access Road**

**Ninja Controlled Territory**

**One Day Later**

Gazing through a powerful pair of binoculars Kurame surveyed the scene before her. Five figures stood in the road, lounging loosely, but clearly forming a roadblock. Scanning over them quickly she recognized them all. Kazumasu Togawa, Yilosi Miya, Enmiura Sadakaze, the one young jounin she had been able to identify only as Aomori, and Nii Yugito. This last annoyed the blue-haired ninja. The woman should be dead, and yet she stood there with perfect poise. Someone had managed to get around her little sealing trickery, a first class fuuinjutsu specialist at the very least. Thankfully, it was nothing more than an annoyance. Kurame suspected the nun complicit in the death of Hidan had been responsible, but no Buddhists would be taking the field today. Yugito's presence could be compensated for easily enough. One little Jinchuuriki would not turn the tide.

With a cruel smile the former Akatsuki considered the persons arrayed behind her, a veritable small army of high-caliber ninja. The time had finally come to deal with matters. Kurame knew that Togawa's squadron had to be a trap, some of the snipers must be lying in ambush. She could care less. Ambush is of limited use against the forewarned in ninja combat, and this place suited her purpose. The road here rested in a deep cut beneath the soft jungle earth. Any snipers would perforce have to stand no further away than the edge of the road, their range advantage essentially gone, they'd be lucky to get off more than a single shot, and that would never allow them victory.

Even so, it was not as if she intended to allow them that shot, at least, not in ideal conditions. No, she'd not line up to be shot at. There were better options. Snipers could not target a melee, and Kurame had every intention of creating a melee. Once engaged with Togawa's little band the snipers would be essentially nullified until the veteran jounin and his friends perished. Given her existing numerical superiority such a division of the enemy's already divided forces played perfectly to Kurame's hand. All it would take was one nasty little trick to arrange.

"I'll go forward," the blue-haired ninja whispered to her principle subordinate, one of her own minions recruited from some itinerant clan. "When I snap my left arm down you'll all leap in and attack."

"And the drones?" the other ninja wasn't the smartest, but his lack of creativity worked well with a highly competent and loyal execution of commands, something Kurame needed now.

"They come with me. That is the whole point after all," she smirked, and then stood.

Wrapping her cloak about her in the morning light Kurame stepped from the trees and began walking casually down the road toward Togawa's group.

The jounin were quick to react, all five immediately falling into fighting positions even though she could not yet be clearly seen by the unaided eye.

Behind Kurame a ragged assortment of ninja sauntered forward, some thirty-seven all told. Loosely forming some sort of wedge they managed to follow her progress and look confident, which was all they needed to do.

It was a simple, ruthless measure Kurame had devised to spring her ambush within an ambush. These snipers had proven they could see through ordinary bushins and similar tricks, but no special visual chicanery could pierce through actual people disguised as ninja. Some slap-dash control seals and a bunch of surplus equipment had served to effect the transformation, and it helped to make them walk like ninja too. Such primitive control methods were useless for actual combat and would not last more than a few hours at best, but Kurame needed only a few minutes. Indeed, if the snipers chose to strike first and waste their arrows on these poor farmers so much the better.

Togawa's troops stood their ground as Kurame approached, and both sides were silent for some time. As she closed to only about thirty meters the blue-haired ninja noticed a small oddity. Togawa's mask was gone. She smiled slightly, recognizing that Itachi and Kisame had managed to accomplish at least some minor success. The mask was a complication she'd rather not bother with.

Stopping before them, holding a relaxed pose despite all the tension in her body, Kurame waited. There was no hurry to start the battle, and she was not yet in danger, though there would be hard fighting to come. Still, she felt no fear, only a careful confidence. She had planned well, and had no expectations of losing, not today. Even if both forces annihilated each other, the former Akatsuki intended to survive. With nothing more than that her goal, she was not threatened.

It was Sadakaze who spoke first, snapping his fan open before his mouth. "Hello, sister."

Kurame smiled widely, a forced motion, there was nothing pleasant about it, and her eyes were hard. "It's really a shame brother," she replied honestly. "But since you're here you're just another ninja."

"Wait, she's your sister?" the young jounin Aomori's face was incredulous, and Kurame would have laughed if not for the twisted knot in her stomach.

"Enmiura Matsuyo," Togawa answered for the both of them. "Defected from Hidden Cloud fifteen years previous, killing two of her teammates in the process, commonly known by the appellation Kurame."

"And one living teammate," Miya hissed, gesturing with the gorgeous Tonbogiri. "Why did you do it?"

Kurame shrugged. "The fifth Raikage was a fool, and the village was falling to pieces. There was no future there, so I took an alternative opportunity, they objected to my goals and methods, and tried to stop me." That was really all there was to it. Kurame had not wanted to kill those two, but neither had she hesitated.

"You betrayed us to join the Akatsuki sister?" Sadakaze's voice was burning with scorn.

"No, that order did not exist yet," Kurame answered. "I left for far more personal reasons. It's not important now."

"It's important to me!" Miya snapped. "I'll never forgive you!"

"I'm not asking for your forgiveness Miya," Kurame replied, and she wasn't. Miya's rage was well justified, but the blue-haired rogue wasn't about to feel guilty about it. Guilt was a waste of time.

"So, is this the Akatsuki's final attack?" Togawa asked. "Do you really think it will work?"

"For the Akatsuki?" Kurame laughed lightly. "Oh no, it certainly won't, you've done great work Togawa, you and Naotaka, the Akatsuki is well doomed now. This little affair serves my purposes and no more." With deliberately graceful flair Kurame slipped out of her long cloak, hurling it dismissively aside. Beneath it she revealed the tight red leather armor she had worn ever since her days as a ninja of Hidden Cloud, and the straight sword and round shield combination she had gained after leaving. "I'll say this much, Master Togawa, brother, and teammate," she gestured to the three. "It no seems I made a misjudgment when I left. The affairs of Cloud were not so hopeless. Naotaka has achieved something truly masterful."

"Are you actually saying you'd come back?" Sadakaze's fan snapped shut, and Kurame knew she had surprised her brother.

"I believe I'll let Master Togawa answer that question," Kurame quipped. "If I begged for forgiveness and requested to rejoin the village would you take me back?"

"Your head, sure," the jounin offered a cold smile.

"Hehe," Kurame laughed lightly. "Well then, I do believe that ends discussion." Her right hand fell down to the hilt of her sword. "Shall we do this?"

Sadakaze answered by snapping his fan back open and sweeping it forward. "Kyouenmuakuma no Jutsu!"

Hideous forms of gray whirled out in an unseen wind from that lashing fan, their mouths open in silent screams felt not in the ears but the soul.

Kurame snapped her shield-bearing arm down, and flipped backward.

Demonic forms of fog impacted on bodies, and the real screams tore through the road as lives came to terrible ends.

"They're not ninja, they're human shields!" Miya shouted, charging behind. "Damn you Kurame!"

The blue-haired ninja's straight bladed sword was out; her blade glanced off Miya's strike as she spun to the side.

The road was suddenly filled with ninja, as the ambush within an ambush was sprung.

Chaos ruled.

Jutsu burst out all over the road, in every element and form conceivable. Kunai flew and steel struck steel, and half a hundred clones materialized only to vanish an instant later.

"Kurame's mine!" Miya shouted, her spear flashing wildly about, and dropping an unfortunate who wore the dull uniform of Iwa village.

"No!" Togawa returned, after forking his blade and liberating a Rain ninja of his head. "She's better than any off us in straight combat! Yugito, hold her back, but don't let her strike even the slightest blow!"

"Why not!" the jinchuuriki shouted as Kurame angled through the confusion to meet the younger woman.

A ninja sprawled back before her, having traded gashes with Miya to the right, and Kurame laughed. "Here's why."

She flicked her blade over the ninja's little wound, and then snapped it forward.

A single handseal and each droplet of blood hardened. Combined with the nature of fluids in flight those tiny red dots transformed into hundreds of dark needlepoints, sharp as any razor.

Yugito, caught off guard, took the burst of points on her flack jacket and left arm.

"My name is not an empty thing, young jinchuuriki," Kurame advanced.

"So it seems," Yugito hissed, but she drew her own blade at last, and Kurame gasped.

"That sword…" the blue-haired ninja was astonished. "So, that ploy did work, I managed for the fool to get himself killed, but I'd never thought you'd turn up with the Kusanagi."

The jinchuuriki's face darkened, and she attacked with silent, focused, fury.

Kurame had not anticipated facing such a legendary weapon, but she was not overawed. She met the blade straight up, trusting in her own masterwork weapon, a treasure of lands far away few ninja had ever even imagined, to match the legendary sword.

As the blow was blocked Kurame's left hand snaked forward, and she tapped the inside of her shield with a knuckle.

A ring of needles, laced with deadly poison, leapt out from the edges.

Yugito barely managed to evade, and Kurame gashed her along the ribs with a devilishly swift motion.

Bleeding Yugito came on.

The pair of kunoichi clashed for a moment, shifted about, sword against sword, and sometimes shield, as Kurame wielded her weapon with perfect expertise and will. She was the best there was, a master of sword and shield in combination, a technique alien to the ninja, one they did not know how to defend. Yugito was younger, and her body had the enhanced capabilities of a jinchuuriki, but her swordwork, though skilled, was an open book to the former Akatsuki. In a moment a dozen cuts, many very serious, laced the jinchuuriki's flesh.

Kurame drew back her sword for a final, mortal stroke, Kusanagi blocked far away to the side, only to connect instead with solid links of chain.

Kazumasu Togawa had imposed his habergeon between Yugito and death.

The veteran suffered a brutal stroke of his own, as Kurame adjusted instantly and carved deep into the jounin's side before spinning away from any possible counter.

"We can't do this!" Miya shouted, and Kurame saw her spear spinning about in a desperate defense, back to back against her brother. Only the chaotic press prevented their destruction at the hands of a potent jutsu, and that would not last. No, not at all.

Kurame raised her hands to finish for sibling and former teammate, amused that her stratagem had paid off, and the snipers had not yet acted at all. Victory was close now.

"Time to go!" the Aomori's voice was strong, and in a sudden move he tossed four shuriken, each lodging softly in the flesh of his companions. His hands formed a seal, and a visceral nimbus of charge formed around the five jounin.

Then, even as it had just formed, the five flew backward.

It was unbelievably fast and without control, five bodies hurtling pell-mell and uncoordinated down the roadway, streaking back toward a tree in the distance.

Only a moment sufficed to realize how it had happened. Electromagnetism, tricky to create and sustain, but brilliantly utilized in this case. Kurame knew immediately it had all been pre-planned.

The beautiful blue-hair shrouded face turned left and the right, and there she saw it.

Blankets flew away, and there stood eleven figures. As one they rose, and bows snapped up, eleven arrows streaking at the sky.

Kurame counted with ruthless quickness, and then counted again, and could not believe it. They were all present, all of them! Her ploy with Zetsu had failed, and her enemy's force was not split at all. Not only had they seen through the ploy, but they had somehow defeated the forewarned plant-man, something she had believed impossible.

Eleven pairs of hands moved through an identical combination of seals, and eleven voices chanted a series of words:

"Eleven higher than Heaven

Eleven higher than Hell

Eleven times Eleven

As unending rain they Fell"

The arrows met high in the sky, all striking together at the same moment.

So, Kurame recognized. You have beaten me. She looked out at the snipers, searching, wondering which it might be. There she met a pair of steely eyes beneath lovely golden blond hair, and she knew. You win young one.

The arrows that met burst apart, and the sky was no longer blue.

A great cloud of dark shafts plunged down now, again and again they came, and unending, persistent stream, thick as the densest rainstorm.

Some among the host Kurame commanded tried to dodge, or blast holes with jutsu, but it was futile. There was nowhere to run, and no hole could be sustained but that the rain filled it again. No protection was sure; they struck through and pierced away it all. Kurame knew how it worked; she had a jutsu of her own that conducted an effect so terribly similar, changing true rain to an endless deluge of knives. It was her most famous technique, the one she had taken as her own namesake, and now it had been turned to the duty of her death.

It was, Kurame thought as she spread her arms wide and accepted the caress of hundreds of barbs, a fitting end for one who had dared betray her home.

Yadome looked at the scene as if from far away. Eighty-two bodies, forty-two minions, thirty-nine unfortunates, and one traitor lay there, all pincussioned with arrows even now fading into the nothingness from whence they had come. Such was the destructive power of this technique, the great cooperative jutsu the Shinobi-Ite had developed based on the technique of another Cloud ninja the pale sniper only now understood to be the woman who had just fallen before it.

Master Togawa's team of five, bloody, battered, and all wounded, shuffled over to the edge of the scene, joining the shinobi-ite as the snipers descended to the sight. "Damn," Togawa whispered, and nothing more. Miya and Sadakaze turned away from the scene and the archers, trying to hide their tears, but Yadome had noticed. She did not know what to think of that, but resolved not to judge.

Nanami was the first to reach the body of Kurame, the woman Togawa had identified as Enmiura Matsuyo, someone they all knew from history, for she had been famous, a great ninja long before she abandoned the village at an age similar to Yadome's now.

"Does this mean it's over?" Nanami asked aloud.

"Yeah," Togawa answered. "We can pile the bodies on the side of the road and burn them. That's probably the best thing to do for it." He looked over at Kurame's body. "Not her though," he said slowly, more steadily as he went on. "She forswore the Akatsuki at the end, so we'll take the body back, and her weapons. She was still enough of Cloud for that."

There was a round of nods, but then Yadome, catching Kina's eye, noticed her sister shaking her head.

"No other cloaks," Kina whispered, and everyone fell silent.

"What do you mean?" Arisa asked.

"She was the only one who wore an Akatsuki cloak," their captain explained. "That brings the number to eight, we're still missing one."

"Oh…" Arisa mumbled.

"There's something wrong about all this," Kina muttered. "Something not right. Why should she repudiate the Akatsuki if she was its leader?"

"She wasn't the leader," Nanami said suddenly.

"But these minions, from all the villages followed her commands," Arisa said. "And that plant man obviously went on a ploy at her direction. Besides, the leader would surely be here for this confrontation, what could be more important?"

Yadome shared her sister's confusion; it didn't seem to make any sense. Should not the leader be at the field of battle? It made all military sense. Then, suddenly, Yadome understood something, recognized the truth of the whole mission. The Akatsuki did not operate militarily. Only Kurame, who rejected them at the end, held such ideals. The others thought only as ninja, and more, as missing-nins, the thinking patterns of criminals. "No…" she whispered in horror, and her words tripped over Kina's. "Commander!"

"What?" several cries broke over the road, as a dozen minds struggled to grasp this.

Tears passed down Kina's cheeks. "Their leader is not here, and there is only one reason, because their true objective was not us, but our whole village; an act of vengeance not victory. It was all planned in advance, and he has gone to slay the Raikage."

"You're right," Togawa whispered, his voice grimmer than Yadome had ever heard. "Naotaka would have known it too; he would have seen what you missed. He's planning to take the bastard on alone, risking himself to insure our victory here. I'm sure he's got a plan, but Kurame's motives change everything. He'll be expecting her, or some other subordinate, not their leader."

"We have to warn him!' Arisa spoke frantically.

"It's too late," Yadome heard herself speak. "Everything will have been precisely timed. Commander Kato is surely fighting in some place of his choosing even now. We have can't possibly reach him, and there's no one else to contact. There's nothing we can do."

"But he won't win," Nanami's voice was filled with sadness. "He's not good enough, everyone knows that. He can't match these Akatsuki, even if he tricks them, he could die."

"There's nothing we can do," Kina's voice was equally sad and Yadome could tell her sister struggled to hold back tears. "Distance dooms anything we might attempt. We cannot get there."

Suddenly Yugito's face filled Yadome's vision.

"Do you love the Raikage?" the jinchuuriki asked.

"What?" Yadome was shocked.

"Do you love him?" Yugito repeated, and she held forth Kusanagi. "Today I fought her blade for blade, a woman without hesitation, and far better than me. She is what I would have become, the person I would be if you all had not held me back. This sword, it does that, and the bonds Tsune engraved upon me. You have given me a way to trust again, and now, if you love the Raikage and would risk everything for him, I must ask you to trust me."

Yadome did not fully understand what Yugito was saying, but looking into the Jinchuuriki eyes she saw a dark flame there, rising high and filled with power, and she understood for a moment the essence being offered.

"How can I not love my father?" she answered.

"I pray we are in time then," Yugito reached forward and kissed her.

Fire poured over Yadome, and the world was awash in blazing purple glory, but there was no pain. Instead, all sensation fell away, until she floated in a world of sight alone.

The ground blurred, and everything became a shattering, slanted streak.

Seeing this, the sniper slowly grasped the nature of this change.

Of all animals that walk the land none are faster than the cats, and how fast indeed was the stride of the demon cat at its greatest peak? How fast Yadome could not know, for the world blurred and there was nothing to anchor her vision, no sensation only bodiless existence enwrapped in the flames of the Nekomata, of Yugito.

Silently she prayed they would be in time.

Chapter Notes:


	27. Incident 26 In Nothing, Everything

**Incident 26 – In Nothing, Everything**

**Lightning Country: Hidden Cloud Village**

**Ninja Controlled Territory**

**Concurrent with Incident 25**

Clouds at dawn over the village of clouds, a welcome metaphor, though like any clouds they carried the possibility of cold rain later in the day. All was gray and dour, a blanket of simple colors, painted in soft charcoal. Concrete was the order of the day here in this little enclave outside the main walls of the village, beyond the sheltered valley where the true Hidden Cloud resided.

These buildings and structures, empty and fake, stood under a single pair of eyes this morning. Used for training and large-scale practices, few came to this place otherwise, and today they were nominally under inspection, so no one was present. Only Naotaka, observing from the center held this position. He was not conducting an inspection, but instead waited calmly, alone with his thoughts.

Far away the Raikage knew a battle was about to unfold, the grand engagement of the remaining might of the Akatsuki, the greatest rebel organization of the entire era of ninja villages, versus his much smaller elite force, but he did not dwell on it. He knew well Kina's plan, had consulted and advised the young captain carefully, and all was in readiness. The Shinobi-Ite had plenty of tricks to spring yet, as did his young pupil Aomori. The foe was worthy, a woman Naotaka respected and had at one point greatly admired, but he was sure this day would see her defeat. It was ironic, in a way, and tragic in others.

Of course, even overcoming the far off distraction, there was a source for worry closer to home, one Naotaka had hidden from everyone, even the cunning minds of the Shinobi-Ite, something only a master could conceal. He was not out here alone for an inspection, but for a battle, one far less certain than the one in the distance. Know your enemy, know yourself, and know the ground, the three dictums of warfare. Combined with the simplest and yet most utterly essential directive of strategy: cut the enemy. Naotaka had lived his life by those postulates, and they had served him well, allowing a man of little physical talent to rise to the highest of places among the ninja, and from that place to match and even defeat others far greater than he.

Today he must strive to equal such achievements, and on a very critical scale. A person was coming with a goal the Raikage would have bet any amount one cared to name on knowing: the elimination of his own life. A decapitating strike, traditional though such a thing might be, especially among the history of shinobi, it was still effective. Naotaka knew defeat was not something he could allow. Hidden Cloud was not yet ready to go on without him. He had not the strength to name a successor who would not be opposed by others, nor the confidence in any one person he might name, from Master Kazumasu Togawa to any other down the line. In five years perhaps that would be different, maybe even in five days if he achieved victory here, but defeat could not be allowed.

So it would have to be victory, but Kato Naotaka lacked confidence in a way he had rarely ever felt before. He knew himself, and he knew his ground, indeed the ground favored him immensely, but how well did he know this enemy? A faceless man, no matter how much of his personality had bled through the organization he manipulated, was nevertheless without a face. He was going into a duel against an opponent surely stronger in blade and jutsu than he himself, and he knew nothing of the other's powers.

Worse yet, and the source of a tight, icy unease somewhere in the darkest depths of the Raikage's mind, was the last piece. Cut the enemy, always cut, a single, difficult principle, but properly cut the enemy was destroyed, body and spirit. In his life Naotaka had come to a great understanding of this principle, had always found the way to cut, but now he sensed that this enemy might not be something he could cut at all.

It was irrational, but Naotaka could not shake the feeling.

So he ignored it, drawing on the essential discipline of a ninja, a soldier, to endure the unendurable.

He did not have to wait very long.

Though vigilant, the Raikage did not see his foe arrive, did not notice until he heard the rustle of a weak wind through the long cloak. Turning about, the foe was revealed.

The man who had built the most dangerous organization in the era of the villages was not physically imposing. His height was average and his hair a common ruddy brown. He had piercing eyes and little dot marks on the side of his nose, but this gaze paled before the all-seeing focus of Yadome. Naotaka noted the ring bearing the inscription of zero, a fitting mark, and the lack of any forehead protector on the man. At least one guess appeared correct; this man was of no village heritage.

"So this is the Raikage," the Akatsuki spoke with a casual coldness more fitting to his position than any other aspect of his appearance. "You are every bit as unimpressive as your pictures imply."

Naotaka heard the confidence, but it was not cockiness, instead a deeply assured sense of personal power. His foe was very dangerous, and was every bit aware of just how so.

In way of reply the Raikage bowed. "Kato Naotaka, Seventh Raikage of Hidden Cloud," he gave the full and official title. "As a matter of official business I must ask you a question. We have been unable to determine your name sir, and it would be most pleasing to the archivists and historians to know it when you cross you out of the bingo book."

Naotaka caught a slight tightening of the mouth at this remark, delivered in his best bureaucratic pomp, and confirmed that his enemy did indeed have emotions that might be swayed, though they were tightly controlled. It was encouraging.

"You vastly overestimate yourself, Raikage," the Akatsuki's leader returned. "But even though it means nothing I will not give you my name. That is knowledge only for the dead. However, you can call me 'Rei' if you need an appellation so badly."

"That will serve I suppose," Naotaka responded. "Not that it matters much to me; I'm more than willing to have you remembered without a name. I think it might even be a better lesson that way."

There was a strange sound from Rei, and it took Naotaka a moment to recognize this as laughter, so devoid of warmth and even amusement it was, a truly alien expression. "I am surprised; you seem to suffer from the delusion that you might actually survive this. To think Kurame rated your strategy so highly. You anticipate my coming, but then you come out here alone, without allies, to seek your death. Did it all seem hopeless, or have your wits truly deserted you?"

"My wits have not deserted me at all," Naotaka answered with serenity. "I have come out to meet you, alone yes, and I have every intention to haul back your body, alone, that is all."

"Really?" the alien laugh returned. "I wonder, do you believe me merely a minion, do you think Kurame gives me orders?"

"Not at all, Rei," the Raikage's voice dripped with the slightest scorn at the pseudonym. "The man who led the Akatsuki would surely go for a head strike himself, and Kurame, well, I knew her, she would never dare. Doubtless the outcome of this battle does not matter to her; so long as one of us perishes she has made her plans."

For the first time the Akatsuki expressed surprise, and then his gaze narrowed and expression became harsh. "That bitch!" the words grated free from his grasp only slowly. "She's trying to sell us out, and she thought to trick me." Suddenly his composure and confidence restored itself. "I must thank you sir," there was no sarcasm. "You have just made my next steps much more clear, I am indeed indebted to your advice."

"I see through something you do not and you persist in believing you are certain to win?" Naotaka raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"You strategic insight is commendable I admit," Rei replied smoothly. "You have managed to destroy my great plans and set me back ten years at least with just a handful of minions, but that does not matter here." He shrugged. "Do you really think you, a mere trumped-up jounin without the necessary ability to hold his own title and no allies can defeat me, the strongest ninja in the Akatsuki, feared by even Orochimaru? Please, Seventh Raikage," his contempt was obvious. "You haven't even bothered to wear armor beneath your robes."

Naotaka acknowledged the other's perceptivity, but conceded nothing. "Oh, really, no armor, I must have forgotten," he quipped, and formed a single handseal. "Shunkankakugo no Jutsu."

A moment before unarmored and only in robes and hat, now the Raikage wore the full battle gear due a man his rank beneath the symbols of his office.

"Cute," Rei smirked. "But can you afford to waste your chakra like that?"

Naotaka only smiled, revealing nothing.

"It seems you truly are delusional," Rei smirked. "Very well, I suppose I might as well get down to the business of this affair."

In time with his words the Akatsuki snapped his left hand forward, and a pair of black darts leapt across toward Naotaka.

Not in any way caught off guard, the Raikage ducked down, drawing his simple ninja sword in a smooth and well-practiced motion. Naotaka noted that those darts were not kunai, or any piece of shaped metal. The technique had been some kind of jutsu, but blindingly fast, that was not a good thing.

Rei made no immediate countermove, but instead gave his adversary a cool glance. "Swords is it?" he remarked idly. "Very well then, I suppose that will do."

With deliberate casualness the man's hand cut down in a slow arc through the air, and behind the motion of his fingers the world ripped apart.

A form of nothing took shape there, manifesting as a rough blade. It appeared black, but this was only because it sucked in all light, not due to any property of color. No edge existed upon this blade, but none was required, it would slice apart anything it touched.

Rei grasped the end easily, his grip assured.

"So, you are a Void user," Naotaka confirmed aloud. "To think one actually existed yet in this world."

"You suspected?" Rei's eyes narrowed to slits.

"After we learned the nature of Hidan I wondered what power could possibly hold such a being in thrall," Naotaka explained, buying a bit of time as he considered silently anything he might, do, but suspecting his options were minimal and that Rei knew it just as well as he did. "The Void was one on a rather short list."

"I suppose it makes sense," Rei laughed again, his empty laugh, and now it was clear the void seeped into that laughter. "Cloud's memory is better; you are the false element after all."

"The replacement is closer to the truth," Naotaka replied, his pride struck a bit. "As one who wields the Void you should know that all elements are both false and true anyway."

"A point to you indeed," Rei conceded, and yet gave out nothing. "Nevertheless, Lightning has not the true heritage of the other arts; can you even dream to stand against me?"

"Energy is energy," Naotaka retorted. "Shizuruheijin," he intoned the move and let chakra formed as electrical power seep down the blade of his sword, forming a coruscating blanket of charge. It was a simple maneuver, but it would allow him to meet that blade of nothing, at least for a time, so the old books said.

Rei did not speak again, but simply attacked, dashing forward with blinding speed, his sword streaking in from the side.

Naotaka parried low, his block late, barely keeping the blade form his flesh, and he had to spin away, conceding position and initiative. The blow was not particularly strong, but it still left him drained, as chakra poured off his sword and into the great hole in all things that was his enemy's weapon. A simple block became a major jutsu.

He was forced to block again, and then again, desperately, as Rei pressed his attack. The leader of the Akatsuki was no amateur swordsman, and he knew the advantages of his blade, not needing to strike with strength or a single face. Combined with hideous speed Naotaka knew he would not survive for more than a few moments.

Accepting a slight gash along the ribs the Raikage drove his blade down into the concrete, and then released a great blast surge of charge. "Jihadou!"

Current blasted through the ground, spreading out and throwing everything back.

Rei was not harmed, but he had to act, taking his blade across the ground and ripping a line there that annihilated all energy poured in that direction.

Naotaka had gained only a fraction of a second, but it was enough. He jumped back, a quick, jerk of motion he combined with a kick of his foot, touching with the very end of his sandals a specific point.

Smoke burst all about them, obscuring everything.

A hail of darts slashed through the gray wall, and one struck Naotaka in the right leg, bringing pain and an unearthly cold unlike anything he had ever felt before. Still, he was a soldier; he could ignore the pain, and did. He jumped further now, and threw a kunai of his own. He did not aim for his enemy, surely lost in the smoke, but for another point he had memorized.

A trio of explosions ripped through the building, and then, a half second later, howling wind, sharp as knives, cut across the rubble.

The smoke blown away Naotaka faced his opponent at some twenty meters, his sword held high. The Akatsuki's clothes were torn and ragged, and though he appeared unharmed, his cockiness had dissipated beneath the coating of dust now all over him. "Still think I'm delusional?" Naotaka quipped.

"Impressive," Rei answered. "Very impressive. The traps serve a triple purpose, they act as allies, they provide your additional tactical options, and they force me to expend chakra at a far greater rate than you do. However, you are still delusional."

"Why do you say that?" Naotaka wondered.

"How can you use the advantage of the environment against nothing itself?" He laughed then, and his hands moved swiftly through seals.

Naotaka threw a trio of shuriken, desperately hoping to disrupt the move, but he wasn't quick enough.

The Akatsuki leader pressed his hands to the ground beneath him. "Ketsuraku toguchi no Ori!"

Naotaka watched in a state of horror unlike anything he had ever felt as the world peeled away. The sky went first, a great square of air above snapping apart to reveal empty black. Four more squares followed, sliding down to wall away the world, and at last below, so everything was encased within a cube of nothing.

Everything should have gone dark, but somehow it did not. In the absence of all light was not darkness, but a state the Raikage could not name, dared not consider with any rational thought at the risk of his sanity. Instead he stood upon a barrier of empty void, yet was supported.

The three shuriken reached Rei a moment too late, and he whipped his sword up, slashing them into nothing.

Standing once again the Akatsuki smiled softly. "Now, this is much more to my liking. Just to make it clear, nothing can pass through the outer walls of this box, and you cannot escape it. So even if you had more tricks planned they are useless now."

Naotaka's heart was racing, and he let it go, but desperately focused his mind. The situation had been turned around rather severely, but he refused to consider things decided. His options had been drastically curtailed, but he accepted that. Instead, the Raikage focused on what he could do now, what he might have gained.

Rei's smile was the clue. His enemy now felt absolutely in control, believed he had completely turned the tables on his foe. In this Naotaka conceived a possibility. The cloud ninja had not earned his reputation as a master strategist for no reason, and he was never without a few tricks left.

Naotaka shifted to the left, making use of what maneuvering room he still possessed between the walls of black, his hands flew through seals.

Rei moved to meet him with his sword of void, but did not press the decision.

"Senjouyuru no jutsu!" a massive cylindrical bolt of electrical energy, a single jolting wave of power, burst from the Raikage's sword, moving faster than any man, no matter their quickness, could possibly dodge, and with more than sufficient energy to scorch a body to ash. It was his most potent assault technique, and one he rarely used.

The black floor below the fighter's feet peeled upward and met that great gout of power, sucking it away to nothing with a flick of Rei's hand.

Fully anticipating this result Naotaka had charged in behind, his blade in a perfect killing stroke.

Rei blocked, and the two sprang apart. A moment later, confined in the small space, they met again, and once more the exchange tilted back in the favor of the Akatsuki after only a few very soft blows.

Naotaka broke away, but Rei's blade lashed out and twisted toward against his own, wrenching the ninja sword from his hand.

Sliding backward the Raikage wove seals as fast as he dared.

"Denkou Tate no Jutsu!" his shield of bright electrical force materialized just in time to block away an assault of thousands of tiny black darts, but the void nature of those deadly little barbs sucked the energy away swiftly, and behind them came the assault of Rei.

The leader of the Akatsuki charged with his right arm forward, his sword leading in a direct stab to the heart. Naotaka would not be able to dodge the edgeless blade, and he no longer had a weapon with which to block, even if he did his hands did not have position. Rei smiled coldly as he came for the kill.

Naotaka matched the expression.

The Raikage's wide-brimmed hat, still on his head throughout the conflict, snapped down, and with a flick of the wrist its true nature was revealed.

The blade of nothing slid through it, but the arm following that blade was flesh and blood. This impacted upon a whirling skin of sharp iron, spiraling out now toward the red-and-black cloak of the Akatsuki from the center of the hat.

Fingers sliced apart, then the wrist, and then lashes ripped into the whole arm, leaving only snapped shards of bone on the ravaged limb.

"Kakushiinjuken!" Naotaka discarded the void-ruined hidden weapon even as he spun about to retrieve his normal sword, and came back in to strike down his suddenly vulnerable opponent without any waste.

A simple slash would be enough, and Naotaka was fully prepared to take a little dart of two if his foe should muster them, he had seized the moment while unfamiliar pain immobilized his enemy.

Triumph rang through Naotaka's mind as his swordpoint impacted the flesh of his enemy's neck.

"Useless," the speech was empty, inhuman.

Blade passed through flesh, but no blood spurted. In shock Naotaka saw his sword simply vanish into that body, steel coming utterly unformed as if there had never been a weapon there at all.

A titanic grip slammed into Naotaka's neck, and his feet left the ground. He blinked against surprise and pain and gurgled what might have been a shout of panic.

Rei stood before the Raikage, and with his right arm the Akatsuki held up his adversary and began to choke him to death. The arm the ribbon sword had ruined was whole once more. No longer flesh it was formed of void itself, and as Naotaka watched through a red haze the entire body of the Akatsuki turned to black save for hideous whorling eyes, no longer the orbs of a human.

"You are tricky," Rei's voice spoke in an odd echo, as if from beyond all things. "But it means nothing. No power you possess can harm me fool. I am the Void! Die now, slowly, knowing this."

A foreign feeling crept of Kato Naotaka, something his confused and panicked mind took some time to recognize. At length, unable to breath and his vision vanishing, he understood. This was hopelessness, a situation truly without any option. He had failed.

"We are near."

They were not spoken, were not truly words at all. Not heard, but simply known they were to Yadome, as the world passed about her in a blur.

"I can feel it now, the great darkness. The Nibi knows it, and through me, I know. We hate this thing, it is our enemy."

The hatred boiled over, and Yadome could feel it now, an impossible fire of bloodlust and rage, far more wrath than any human might possess; a truly monstrous manifestation.

"It has defended itself. I pray this means we are in time, yet, to break through this there will be only a moment, and I will not be able to act then, there will be too much disorientation. I know not how you will fare, but no matter it all you must retain your wits and act. There will be a single instant only. In that time you must not fail to strike. I believe this is your power, and your fate, to make this, the shot of all shots."

Yadome could not reply, did not know if such a thing was even possible now, but she made herself ready, pushing the words away and awaiting the moment to come.

"We go."

All had gone silent in Naotaka's mind, and he was fading fast to blackness. Plunged beneath the unbearable tide of hopelessness he desired only for it to end quickly, but a part of him, the soldier part, not the ninja part, struggled on anyway, refusing to forgive, demanding every bit of the enemy's strength it might beg even as it was crushed. This part of the Raikage cared nothing for hope, but it knew it would make certain its foe remembered what it had taken to extinguish it.

Then the world was torn apart once more.

Light, real light not the false absence of the Void, reappeared.

Flaring and blinding, a hideous horrid purple blast, but nevertheless light, it intruded in great force, and all things were altered.

Naotaka's eyes snapped open.

A great mass of purple flame burst through the wall of nothing, and then it came apart. Vaguely cat-shaped at first, it split into two separate forms.

One of these was stopped at the edge of the wall, and the purple flame writhed and dimmed.

The second, barely cloaked in any of the hell-light at all, flew across the open space within the cube of emptiness, and Naotaka saw it with in a single moment of clarity.

A woman. One who held a bow and arrow.

Yadome.

Rei turned in a world whose time had dilated down to a crawl, reacting to this unexpected, impossible, disturbance.

The flames of the first figure resolved into another woman, impossible to recognize. A single hand, battered, bloody, and burnt, shot out toward Yadome.

Across the fading trail of purple smoke linking the two woman passed one last burst of flame.

"Strike!"

Purple flame, the demon flame of the Nibi no Nekomata, wrapped about the arrow of Yadome as the bowstring snapped.

Rei turned in time to see only this last.

"NO!" the Akatsuki screamed as the arrow, launched from an archer hurtling through the air in chaos but perfectly on target, crossed the minute distance to reach his breast.

Steel penetrated the body of darkness and purple flame passed in with it.

The very air howled in torment.

The walls of the box of void unraveled, and streamers of darkness rushed in like tormented ghosts to meet hurl down the shaft of the arrow to the point of meeting. When they had gone the very body of the Akatsuki itself spiraled down in a vortex to that point, all the blackness congregating in a darkness the eye refused to look upon, even for one of Yadome's incredible vision.

A single flash of purple burned across the eye.

All was silent.

Slowly Naotaka felt about him. His body was whole, and rested on cool concrete once more. Only with this confirmed did he dare to open his eyes again.

Vision stung, and he blinked repeatedly, catching only brief glimpses of the scene down in gray clouded sunlight at last.

Standing on wobbly legs the Raikage noted the other two present. One was clearly Yadome, looking disoriented and slightly bruised from an awkward landing after he shot, but otherwise fine. The second he managed to recognize as Nii Yugito, but the jinchuuriki was in terrible condition.

"Yugito!" Yadome saw the same thing, and, stumbling on unsteady legs, rushed over to the fallen woman.

The blond ninja bled from a dozen or more cuts, many deep and ragged. A set of punctures laced her left side as well, but worst were the burn marks. They coiled all over the body, each forming a little flame carved upon the flesh, as if someone had bathed her with a hot iron.

Yadome gingerly touched the jinchuuriki's face and spoke with careful concern, barely holding back tears, something Naotaka could hardly believe from the usually emotionless sniper. "Please speak, give us some sign, Yugito, please," Yadome begged.

"I…live…" the jinchuuriki managed to croak out a few words. "I have let too much demon energy pass through me," she coughed and hacked briefly. "I…must pay…the price…but…I will heal. The Nibi will not let me die just yet."

"Then rest," Naotaka spoke, his own voice was ragged and creaking, damaged seriously by the clenching hand of the Akatsuki. "You two have saved me today and finished our enemy as well. I will not forget it."

Yugito managed a weak smile through ravaged lips, and then her eyes closed in sleep. Yadome saluted quickly. "I should report our victory in Hidden Rain," she said briefly. "All enemies slain, none of ours dead, though all members of Togawa's team were wounded."

"That is…very good news," Naotaka managed, not quite able to believe that everything had just ended then, even though he had planned it to be so. "Everything else can wait; we must get Yugito to medical care."

Together the two ninja lifted their companion up and carried her between them. Even so, the sniper's eyes of Yadome were never idle.

"Commander?" she asked as they hurried along. "What happened to your hat?"

Naotaka laughed at this, to Yadome's blank face. Settling down he explained. "For ten years I've worn a trap upon my brow, a sword of ribbon, hidden in coils, until it became so natural no movement of mine could ever betray it. Today that trap was sprung, to great effect, though the foe proved rather obstinate and the trap did not survive the springing. A shame really," Naotaka remarked, letting voice to his great relief at last, the sense of completion finally overtaking him. "It was a rather unique hat, I have no idea how I'll manage to find a replacement."

Slowly Yadome's thin mouth turned upward in a smile, and then she laughed with him, and all things seemed right at last.

Chapter Notes:

'Shunkankakugo' means "instant readiness"

'Jihadou' means "ground surge"

'Ketsuraku toguchi no Ori' meaning "Cage of No Doors"

'Senjouyuru' means "Streaking Jolt"

'Kakushiinjuken' means "Hidden Ribbon Blade" (the Raikage did this same trick in Behind Killer's Eyes, but then, it is the same guy, so why not)

A bunch of the stuff about strategy in Naotaka's big moment of reflection at the beginning of the chapter involves paraphrasing The Art of War and A Book of Five Rings. I like doing that when I get the chance.

About the whole 'fake element' thing: Naruto's elemental system has Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Lightning. A more traditional cosmology would have Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and the Void as the fifth element. The idea is that this was previously the case but the Void was considered too dangerous and exterminated with Lightning rising to replace it.


	28. Incident 27 Final Disposition

**Incident 27 – Final Disposition**

**Lightning Country: Hidden Cloud Village**

**Ninja Controlled Territory**

**Nine Days Later**

Kazumasu Togawa, looking oddly vulnerable without his mask and much the worse for wear due to his battle injuries, barely beat Genjiro to the Raikage's office. "You'd better have a good reason for calling up a hurt man from his bed damnit," he barked surly. "I don't heal as fast as I did when I was younger."

Sitting behind his desk Naotaka smiled lightly, inwardly agreeing. He expected his throat was going to hurt for months yet.

Genjiro chose that moment to walk in, and he and Togawa both pulled up chairs before doing anything more. "Alright, what's the big deal now?"

"Nothing unpleasant," Naotaka assured the two. "I just have a few final questions for the two of you before we can close the report on the Akatsuki for good, and a few things we need to take care of in consultation."

"Just keep it as brief as possible," Togawa muttered. "I've got a new mask to make, and who knows where I'll find the time for it."

"I understand," Naotaka replied wearily, he to was exhausted from the entire goings on. "First, I need your verdict on the three Cloud ninja who fell alongside the other Akatsuki servants. Were they truly traitors, or compelled by jutsu?"

"Didn't you ask that girl Kina?" Togawa mumbled.

"I did," Naotaka replied pointedly. "I've heard what she said, and now I want to hear your answer." He chose his tone carefully; sure Togawa would get his meaning.

"Compelled by jutsu," the veteran jounin replied immediately. "Kurame was surely capable of it; she probably had people under her thumb from before she left."

Privately Naotaka agreed with Togawa's choice, there was no reason to punish the dead and ostracize the families of those three; though likely some had been true traitors. He was glad to get the jounin's agreement however, it made things easier. "Very good then, they will be treated as any other mission casualties." The Raikage turned to Genjiro. "Now, I must know, what did you learn regarding our Void-wielding enemy?"

"The whole temple scoured our records, even asked other temples trying to figure it out," the old monk replied. "We still don't know how such a person, especially someone that powerful, managed to survive. Void use was like a bloodline almost, very few could manipulate the element, and especially not strong enough to actually hold anything made of Void like you say he did with the sword. The last Void user officially perished ninety-two years ago."

"I guess it remains a mystery then," Naotaka decided. "However, I want you to make certain the word gets out. Where there was one the possibility of a second must not be ignored. We must be vigilant."

"Of course," Genjiro's reply was firm; in this the interests of temple and ninja were united. "One thing I did determine, though, is why he died."

This perked Naotaka's interest, for he had wondered at that since only moments after it occurred. "How?"

"It's the Bijuu," the old monk explained with care. "And the Nibi especially. The demons are not creatures of this world, and so their essence can never truly be resident here. Instead it forms an expression out of its chosen elements to create a body, or functions through a binding with a human. However, it must always be linked through the Void with its true nature. The Nibi's link with the spiritual world is stronger than others, so it is more aware of this than the other Bijuu. Regardless, the Bijuu can affect the Void because they are the Void. Essentially, by projecting a piece of themselves into a piece of Void they can infuse element into it. Of course, when Void gains an element it ceases to be Void, and so, that's it."

"Ah ha," it made a sort of sense, and Naotaka found the irony delicious. Rei's maneuvers that had so disarmed him had made him particularly vulnerable to just the attack Yugito had Yadome use.

"Apparently," Genjiro went on. "The Bijuu all hate Void users because a void user who knows what they're doing can sever or even manipulate the link between the Bijuu and this world. Obviously the Bijuu fear being sent back, and one of the reasons void ninja were finally wiped out was all the Bijuu-induced casualties. Finally, that power would seem to explain why the Akatsuki was able to performing sealing procedures on the Bijuu no one else had ever done. They were using Void power."

"I'm sure he didn't tell his comrades that part," Togawa smirked slightly. "Real shame Kurame got mixed up with them."

Naotaka sighed. "Kurame made her decision in an earlier time. If she lived now I would like to think she would have made a different choice. However, she died by her decision as she had lived, without hesitation. For that much she will be remembered, there is nothing to be gained by greater regret."

"Yeah, I know," Togawa shrugged. "Is that all then?"

"Not quite," now Naotaka's voice brightened and he smiled, able to think of happy things. "The grand mission to destroy the Akatsuki is at last complete, and we even landed Orochimaru as a bonus. The village is due a grand celebration for the victorious ninja, who have only now returned. We will be holding a grand parade the day after tomorrow, but there are a few small matters to take care of beforehand."

"A parade?" Togawa growled. "Sounds sappy, we just did our jobs."

"It's political," Genjiro smirked. "It's not for you or those little archers; it's for the village, to make the point to everybody in Cloud about how things have changed, and to everyone else too. You're sly Raikage, rushing out to claim the credit like this."

"Sly?" Naotaka shook his head. "No, this has always been the purpose. We did not go out to slay the Akatsuki out of a great moral call. We did it for justice to our own, and to make a point. Now that point is made. The ways of the ninja world have changed, and Cloud is not to be pushed around any more."

"Fine, whatever," Togawa made it clear he didn't really care. "What do you need us for? I'll march or whatever, obviously, but what's the business?"

"Well," the Raikage explained. "I've written appropriate commendations, lists of accomplishments, and so on to be announced, but there's one tricky point. The Shinobi-Ite is still a brand new unit, and none of its members have official ranks."

"Oh," Togawa laughed. "I hadn't thought about that."

"Yes well, I'd rather not either, but unfortunately it's a matter of some official importance and likely to be a political mess as well."

"I guess we can't just make them all jounin, even though they probably deserve it," Togawa remarked. "But you need to make Yadome a jounin at least, and Kina too."

"That much I was certain of," Naotaka nodded. "And Kina will be given an appointment as a captain as well; the other nine present more difficulty. I really cannot make them more than chunin with an elite designation on my own, but anything else will be bitterly fought by the clans."

"The clans can stuff it on this one," Togawa's voice was grim. "That would be insulting. Still, I understand what you're saying. I'd say make the squad leaders special jounin and the others elite chunin. They'll jump up the ranks so fast it'll hardly matter anyway."

"That's a good suggestion," Naotaka was indeed glad for it, for he had not been able to sort the puzzle out without feeling he was being unfair to those he considered his own family. "You're right about the advancement, thanks for reminding me."

"Is that it then?" Togawa asked. "I've got plenty to do."

"Just one thing and this is for both of you," the Raikage addressed the two. "Do you think Enmiura Sadakaze is suited for a role as roving ambassador? We have a few visits to make in the near future."

"Whatever," Togawa was already rising.

"A decent choice," Genjiro elaborated. "And best to get him out of the village and moving, occupy the mind and all."

"Indeed," Naotaka agreed with that assessment, Sadakaze needed something to think about other than the death of his elder sister for a while. "Well then, I'll see you at our little parade. The official announcement is in your mailboxes."

"I'm not making a speech," Togawa made this very clear.

"Of course not, I wouldn't dream of it," Naotaka tossed a mean smile at the veteran jounin.

When the pair had left Naotaka sighed. It was hard to believe everything was over, even now, over a week gone by. Of course, he knew things were not truly over, they had only just begun. His mind would not rest on what was done, but was constantly moving forward, planning a new strategy, the next stage of this great change he was beginning to write across the whole ninja world. The Shinobi-Ite had been one part, the innovative tricky of Aomori another, the seal-altered equipment a third, but there was much yet to do.

The great endeavor had not been without loss. A picture of Ukita Saito would be walking in the parade along with all the living, but no matter the metric success was the true state of affairs. Naotaka simply wished, amid all his many plans for the future, he knew how to properly thank the archers for what they had done. Yet he could only hope they already understood.

The eleven members of the Shinobi-Ite sat in a circle in near darkness, only a few flickering candles illuminating the main room of their bunkhouse. It was their last night in this residence, their home for twelve years. They would all be moving into the village tomorrow, and this encampment would be abandoned. Or at least, it would not be their home anymore.

None attempted to sleep. They had all gathered together knowing there were things to be said, now that they had come home again. Questions and considerations had been put off while they took the long journey back from Rain country, but no longer.

For a long time all were silent, searching each others eyes. Only after it became clear that someone would have to speak first did Kina finally let her voice be heard.

"I have been notified that we have been given official ranks," she told her siblings, not having anywhere else to begin. "Yadome and myself have been promoted to jounin. I was given the title of Captain as well. The squad leaders were made special jounin, so that means Arisa, Nanami, and Mikiko."

"Wait…" Mikiko muttered, voicing the confusion.

Kina smiled, feeling that she had broken things a bit more open. "I'm reorganizing the squads, since I won't be squad captain and captain of the whole unit at the same time. Squad one stays Nanami, Shiori and Chiyuki. Arisa, Fushiyo, and Eisai will be squad two. That leaves Mikiko, Shizuka, and Atsue as squad three. Any objections?"

"Why me?" Mikiko asked.

"Presence of mind, among other reasons," Kina answered, feeling assured of the choice. The Raikage had agreed with her assessment when she broached the subject with him, and none of her siblings seemed to voice an objection now. "I'm sure you can handle it."

"So, if they're special jounin, what about the rest of us?" Shiori demanded.

"Chunin, with an elite designation," Kina shook her head. "It's political, I'm sorry. Commander Kato said he regretted it, but he was confident everyone would advance to new ranks in no time at all, so it should be nothing to worry about. For myself, I'm sorry, I think the whole rank system is foolish for us, but it's a part of being Cloud ninja."

"It will not matter, everyone shall know what we have done," the cool and careful voice of Yadome caught everyone's attention. "Yugito, Togawa, and the others, they will make it clear."

Kina nodded, agreeing. She had seen it during the return trek, the respect they had earned from those jounin, so different then when they first met.

"So what's next?" Eisai, the most impatient of them, asked. "What happens now?"

"We continue to serve missions," Nanami answered. "Just now it'll all be official; we won't have to hide from our own people anymore. Right?"

"I believe that's mostly what will happen," Kina replied cautiously. "However, we must face the reality that we may not work together as often now. Few missions require multiple high quality snipers. We may spend a great deal of time attached to other teams. Everyone should prepare for this." She herself was somewhat regretful, but it seemed inevitable. "Our lives are not going to be as close as they once were." It was a sad thing to say.

There was a moment of silence, as the realization sunk in among the group.

"So what!" Atsue, youngest among them, spoke suddenly. "No matter what happens, we're siblings. How far apart we go, how often we see each other, that doesn't change anything!"

Kina smiled, and saw the others do so as well. "Yes, yes that's right. We are the family Commander Kato made, and nothing will change that," she paused, and then decided to jump ahead. "However, this family will need to gain some new faces."

The reaction to this announcement was exactly what Kina had expected. Dead silence.

Refusing to speak first, Kina let the silence linger, waiting to see who would comment.

It would be Arisa who spoke first, conveniently. "You mean recruit new members?"

"Yes," Kina explained. "We eleven cannot be everywhere, and we cannot assume we will persist together. It took twelve years to train us. Now that we know this experiment was a success we must not waste additional time."

"How we will do such a thing?" Nanami wondered.

"We should do the same thing as before," Yadome said slowly. "Take children who are not ninja and raise them to be snipers. We dare not dilute the specialization."

"I agree," Kina replied. "Arisa, this will be your responsibility."

"Mine?" she stammered. "But…what do you mean?"

"Obviously we will all help, but there must be a primary teacher for any group of students," Kina went on. "I want you to be that person. You are the most careful among us, the one with the best eye for practice and diligent learning. You'll be the best teacher I believe."

Arisa looked down, and then slowly raised her head to meet Kina's eyes. "All right, I'll do it. I'll start looking for students right after the parade. We'll use this camp, just like before. How many do we need?"

"It should be eleven," Mikiko's voice was a whisper.

Everyone echoed her. "Yes, eleven."

"Fine," Kina agreed. "I'm sure the Raikage won't object to that."

"Well," Shiori broke the silence that followed. "Now that the future's taken care of, what about the present. What do we wear to the parade?"

There was a chorus of laughs.

"I say we wear our normal clothes," Chiyuki voted. "The camo's too serious and we'd all look the same in it."

"Second that," Fushiyo replied. "And I refuse to wear the Cloud village uniform, that's not our way."

Kina watched as her siblings began to argue about clothes, marching order, and such other things of little consequence. It made her happy to be with them like this, even though her status as Captain had already made her feel somehow separated. Yet the blond-haired sniper knew the separation was the lie. This was her family, as Atsue had said. Kina resolved she would not fail in the future as Captain, she could never allow her siblings to come to harm for her mistakes.

Her resolve firm, Kina then let her seriousness go, and enjoyed the rest of the evening among her siblings, doubtless it would be the last for some time.

Chapter Notes:


	29. Epilogue and Afterword

**Epilogue – Red Cloud Spoils**

**Fire Country: Hidden Leaf Village**

**Ninja Controlled Territory**

**One Week Later**

"What is this about?" the fifth Hokage demanded.

"There's a letter on the box you should read first." Enmiura Sadakaze replied, hiding his smirk behind his fan. "We should start there."

"Grrr…you Cloud ninja…" Tsunade yanked the envelope off the top of the rather large wooden box Sadakaze had brought with him.

Jerking the letter open she found the following words in the Raikage's precise and straight hand:

To the Fifth Hokage: I recognize that these circumstances are somewhat irregular, but I have duly sent Enmiura Sadakaze, a jounin under my command, to meet with you an open discussion regarding potential modifications of the trade, land, and resources rights set down in the Blackmarsh Treaty (this being the document that concluded hostilities in the conflict twelve years ago if you don't recall). Sadakaze is duly empowered to make all appropriate discussions and statements as a representative of Hidden Cloud. Also, about the box I have had delivered to you. Well, purely by fortuitous circumstance it happens that Hidden Cloud came into possession of four pieces of property belonging to your village. Therefore, in an effort to be courteous, I have duly sent them back to you to keep. My apologies for the poor condition some were retrieved in.

-Respectfully, Kato Naotaka, Seventh Raikage

After reading the letter Tsunade wrenched the wooden box open in impatience.

Sadakaze had to stuggle with all his might to resist laughing at the look of shock she assumed thereafter. In that moment all the jounin could think was how lucky he was to be chosen to observe this.

Inside the box, carefully preserved in jars of alcohol, rested the heads of Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, Yakushi Kabuto, and Orochimaru.

"Now then, shall we get down to business?" Sadakaze requested of the dumbstruck Hokage.

**END**

**Afterword**

Finished! And fast too, I seem to have written this whole thing in less than three months. That's rather creepy. Well, at this point I'll go through the process of listing some of my own thoughts about the piece, and how things went.

Ultimately, this story is a novel-length rant about all my anger with what Naruto has become and the flaws in the world. Though, I suppose I'm hypocritical in that I write so much using it even so. This story grew out of a much smaller piece called Ranged Applications, in which I considered the ninja sniper idea for the first time. I then decided to take the idea further sometime later, I'm not precisely sure why, I just wanted to do it, so this story came to be.

This was my first time writing a truly epic scale piece with a large cast. My previous long works have all been very focused on a small number of characters and their own fairly personal problems. It was interesting to use the epic format, and a real challenge. I'm happy with some of the things I was able to do and not as happy with some of the others. Some of the characters never got the time they deserved, and I felt the various Shinobi-Ite members didn't get to differentiate out that well. Part of the problem is how this entire piece is basically all ending, the beginning and middle parts are borrowed from Naruto. So, just like you never get to know the people in the cavalry in an old western, you don't really get a full chance to see the Shinobi-Ite.

I felt I did a better job with the other characters, such as the Raikage, Togawa, and Kurame. I'm particularly proud of Kurame, who was a huge challenge to write for as sort of the 'only sane person in the asylum.' It was incredibly important to use her as my own character, and not borrow an actual Akatsuki member for the purpose; the story just wouldn't have worked out that way. It's a pity I didn't get to have her truly show off her real abilities.

As far as the action in this piece I have somewhat mixed feelings. I feel I did the 'classic' Naruto-style battles (i.e. the ones with Togawa or the Raikage) quite well and the sniping ones not so well. Unfortunately, I discovered well into this piece that sniping people to death really isn't all that interesting, especially when it's repeated over and over. Yadome vs. Zetsu in particular seemed repetitious and is the fight I'm the least proud of in here.

I do know that the Akatsuki look rather 'weak' in a lot of this, which was partly the point I was trying to make with the whole methodology thing, but is also a consequence of attempting to approach the fights strategically. As Sun Tzu once wrote: "A victorious army wins its victories before seeking battle; an army destined to defeat fights in hope of winning." All the keys to the various battles happened before anyone did any fighting, which is why I had all those long planning discussions in the story. I tried to make this clear, especially in the buildup to the final engagement, but I don't know how well I succeeded.

One of the unfortunate things that colors this story is the nature of technology and Naruto. I had to make a number of compromises in this regard, and really wasn't happy with most of them. This is an aspect of the setting unfortunately beyond my control, but writing this story really highlighted to me how ridiculous Kishimoto's irregular application of technology to the story is. For example: I chose radio as the preferred means of communication, even though there may very well be cell phones in Naruto. I had to make similar guesses about the religious elements, and simply chose to go full bore with the mystic Buddhism (because I find it more fun). Still, I dislike having to make such assumptions. Oh well.

My favorite character in this story is decidedly Kato Naotaka, who I pulled out of Behind Killer's Eyes to be my Raikage once again. My favorite moment is Togawa using fork on Itachi. My favorite line is one I put in Zetsu's mouth: Nobody kills me twenty-seven times without being able to do something this crazy.

I believe that's all, hope everyone enjoyed! I would please ask everyone who did bother reading this to please leave some comment, any kind at all, at the end. It's very hard to know you have readers and yet here nothing from them.


End file.
